ZDay
by Gleek-Of-Nowhere
Summary: AU. Badass!Rachel. Zombies. Faberry/Brittana. Read along as McKinley's glee club survives in a world over run by infectious zombie mother-effers. Rated T for language and such.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Glee does not belong to me.. blah blah blah..

Authors Note: All mistakes belong to me. I know this is a slow chapter but I feel like I had to get this information out before anything exciting happens. I'm not the fastest at updating but due to some health issues, I should have some free time on my hands so I promise to update as soon as I can. This story is mainly about Faberry but our main Glee members are all in this story. Brittana and Klaine are implied. Reviews would be awesome :)

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><p><strong>April 23, 2012 6:09AM<strong>

"Noah, pass it over."

Rachel stepped onto the 2nd floor balcony of their temporary home and smiled as Noah handed her the pre-lit blueberry joint. Taking a couple of puffs before handing it back to him, she smiled as the warm sensation flowed through her body. It was just over 6AM which gave Puckerman and Rachel about 3 hours to finalize their plan before they headed out to collect whatever supplies they could find in this small town.

"Have I ever thanked you for stealing those marijuana plants before we escaped Lima on Z-Day? Best thing you could have done Puck."

Noah broke out into a grin thinking back to the first day Rachel had asked him to share what he was smoking. "Have I ever thanked you for being such a badass? _Especially_ on Z-Day?" He replied with a smirk on his scruffy face. Rachel rolled her eyes but sent a smile his way anyways. She knew that he was kidding but behind that playfulness was honesty. The day the world went to shit, Rachel surprised everyone by stepping up and protecting her former Glee members. It was almost as if she had been waiting for a zombie apocalypse to happen. She had the right cars, the right plans, and definitely the right ammunition.

"You taking Artie with you today?" Rachel asked as he handed her the joint once again. Eyes lighting up with excitement, Noah quickly stood from his seat and picked up his silenced rifle to shoot at a zombie that was walking a little too close to the front gate of the house.

"Bet your sweet little Jew ass I am. He's driving us into downtown in his Hummer so we can go scavenge for some walkie talkies. According to Mike, we need to keep in touch long range ya know?" Noah cleared his throat hoping she hadn't caught his double meaning. Nodding her head in agreement, Rachel softly added "Yeah.. I know. Our cell phones aren't gonna last forever. I get it." She turned and looked down the abandoned street. It was an unspoken rule now that nobody talked about family. To them, the only family they had was each other. Parents, sisters and brothers, aunts and uncles, they didn't exist anymore. No one knew what had happened to their families but they all knew the possibilities of them being alive were slim to none. But deep down, Rachel knew. She knew that Kurt and Tina and Mercedes and the rest of her friends still hoped that their phones would ring in the middle of the night and on the other end would be a parent or.. _someone._Which is why every car had car chargers that would fit possibly any phone known to them.

"Watch it Puckerman, only I can make comments about Berry's ass." Smiling gratefully at the interruption, Rachel turned around only to be greeted by the equally smiling face of her girlfriend, Quinn.

"Morning baby." Rachel greeted. "Is everyone else awake?"

"Na just Sam and I. He's downstairs cooking breakfast for everyone. I think its pancakes and the last of our juice today." Quinn replied before stepping into Rachel's embrace and planting a soft kiss on waiting lips. The truth was though, everyday was pancakes for breakfast. It was the one luxury they were able to hold on to as everything around them crumbled apart. When Z-Day, as the gleeks had started calling it, happened, the one thing they made sure to stock up on was pancake mix. After all, the only thing they needed to add to it was water.

"Well that's my queue to get the fuck outta here then." Noah said with a slight chuckle. "Rach, go ahead and finish that. I'm gonna go eat and then wake up the rest of the gang so we can get ready."

Rachel gave a short nod towards him before looking out onto the street in front of them. Not seeing any zombies, she sat on the chair previously occupied by the former football player and pulled Quinn onto her lap.

"Ya know, if someone had told me a month ago that my perfectly innocent girlfriend would be smoking weed and kicking zombie ass, I would've laughed in their face."

"It keeps me alert but calm. Kinda like you." Rachel flirted before blowing out smoke directly into Q's face and then passing her what was left of Noah's joint. Coughing at the unexpected smoke, Quinn glared at her before smirking and throwing an affectionate "ass" in her direction.

"You love me."

"Something like that."

Downstairs, Noah sat at their makeshift kitchen table eating a plate of pancakes and discussing plans with Sam who was almost finished cooking for everyone. Sam and he had become very close over the past month. They expected Noah to pull away from everyone after he was forced to put a bullet through a zombified Figgins but instead, he became attached to the blonde cook almost instantly. It almost seemed as if Sam had gone through a similar situation, but of course no one dared to ask. Noah's days were still filled with huge smiles and crude remarks but his nights were a different story. Nightmares of his zombie principal and exploding heads were all he dreamt about which was the main reason he usually took night shifts when it came to patrolling whatever house they were staying in that evening. Although, on occasion, Santana would threaten his "baby making tools" if he didn't take a night off to get some rest.

**7:40AM**

After everyone was finished eating, they packed up the gear they had brought into the house the night before and met up in the living room to await further instructions from Rachel and Noah. Although Rachel was all about being fair and letting everyone give input into future plans, most of the teens sat back and let her take the lead. She was a quick thinker, and always played it smart. With the help of Puckerman, she knew where to go and when to go. But the main reason everyone trusted her? She never left someone behind. Even if it meant going into a crowd of zombies, she did whatever it took to keep her group of 13 alive.

"Alright guys let's get this bullshit over with" Rachel joked while walking into the living room with Quinn right behind her. "I know I said we'd leave today but I think we can stay another night here if you guys are up for it. The balcony on the second floor is perfect for outside guard and there's a tall ass fence surrounding the back yard and sides of the house. " At that, everyone's ears perked up. It was rare when they got to spend more than one night in a house. Rachel and Noah sat on the bean bag chairs in front of everyone and pulled out their notebooks. "Finn and Kurt, you're on gas duty. The pump is already in the front seat of Puck's truck. The containers are in the bed of the truck. Hit up any car you can and clean it for all the gas possible. Santana and-"

"Wait we're doing good on gas why do we need more? I mean Santana and Kurt and Mercedes' cars are electric powered. So is Tina's. And they each have like what? 6 extra batteries or some shit. Plus Artie's hummer has that solar power thingy so it doesn't use gas either. The only cars that need gas are mine and Pucks. But Puck has a hybrid so that helps right?" Finn rambled genuinely confused.

"Look Finn," Noah started "We got lucky with Artie's hummer. It's solar powered because his parents didn't want him getting out of the car to put gas because of his injury. But it won't fit all of us plus our baggage. If something happens and we lose one of the electric cars or if the electricity… We just need to be prepared in case we ever have to hop in a random car."

"Oh."

"Ok. Moving on. Santana and Puck, your goal is to find those walkie talkies at the station. Bring as many as you can find and if they have a charging port, bring it. Artie's driving the two of you plus me and Mike into downtown. We'll give coverage from the rooftop across the street so you guys can go in and out as quickly as possible. Sam, you're with Mercedes and Quinn on a food and accessories run. There's a Walmart just around the corner and down a few blocks. Pick up anything you may think is useful. Take Finn's truck. Britt can you and Blaine stay here and cover the front street for when we get back? Tina will stay in the house and make sure it's clear."

"Yeah I tots got this Rach." Brittany answered with a smile on her face. She stood up and grabbed Blaine by the hand before pulling him towards the garage that was attached to the kitchen. "We'll go get the cars and bags ready."

"Alright guys be back no later than 2." Noah instructed as everyone stood up and stretched their limbs. Rachel walked over to Quinn and wrapped her arms around the taller blonde's waist. "Don't be mad" she whispered into Quinn's shoulder.

"Seriously? You know I HATE when you go out and I'm not there Rachel. How do you expect me-" Rachel cut off her nervous girlfriend by turning her in her arms and kissing her with as much passion as she could muster. "That's not fair." Quinn mumbled against slightly parted lips.

"I'm sorry. But we have to break teams evenly babe. You know that.." Rachel placed another quick kiss on the addicting lips in front of her. "I'll make it up to you. I promise."

"QUINN!"

"JEW BABE!"

At that, Quinn couldn't help but roll her eyes. "Be safe Rasberry" she whispered against Rachel's lips before heading out with her assigned glee members. "Puck! Don't make me shoot you in the ass!" Noah laughed and threw a wink in her direction. Everyone in the house, including Quinn, knew that Rachel and Noah were more like brother and sister than anything else. The flirting, if you could even call it that, was just their way of finding comfort in each other during all this madness. Quinn on the other hand, bonded with Noah with faux threats. It was odd, sure, but for them it worked and it kept them sane.

**8:43AM**

"Did you pull up the latter on the fire exit?" Rachel threw over her shoulder as she walked across the rooftop to take her position. She heard Mike mumble a short 'yeah' to her not wanting to be too loud. As they set up their gear they looked across the street towards the police station and could easily see about 15 walkers lingering by the front doors. They had about 7 minutes to clear all the zombies down below before Artie would be circling back around to drop off Santana and Puck at the entrance.

Exhaling slowly and putting his finger on the trigger, Mike turned his head slightly to look at the short brunette who was attached to the scope of her rifle. "You ready Rach?"

The corners of soft pink lips shifted up and a smirk now adorned the soft face of one confident Rachel Berry. Slipping her aviators on, she barely turned her head before answering her good friend. "Born ready, Chang."


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: I have fallen in love with the idea of Rachel and Blaine being related. So yes, in this story they are related. Both were adopted by Mr. & Mr. Berry. Also, the only relationships that have been established as of now are Faberry and Brittana with a side of Mike/Tina. I'm not so sure if Klaine and Samcedes will happen, even though I adore the pairs. But we'll see.**

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><p><strong>9:02AM -Police Station<strong>

"Doors locked?"

Santana ignored Noah's question and pulled her phone out sending a quick text to Rachel. Slipping her phone back into her slightly tight cargo pants, she slid around the desk to stand next to Noah. She followed his gaze and tried holding back a laugh which just came out as a snort. He looked over at her and then slowly let his eyes fall back onto the objects in front of him.

"It can't be this easy" he mumbled to himself. "It's never this fucking easy."

Sitting in front of them were 3 police handheld radios sitting on a black charging port that could easily hold another 5. Noah picked one up but was met with silence as he tried to turn it on.

"Fuck."

"It's not plugged in Squirrel-Head. They probably just need to be charged."

Santana picked up the dangling cord and showed Noah. He mumbled a quick 'oh' and picked up the charging port to examine it. Santana, bored with just watching him poke at the thing, decided to look around and see what she could find. Of course she was just secretly hoping to find more handhelds because she knew 3 would never be enough. Walking down a short hallway, she came upon an open door that led to a room with small TV screens spread across the wall. Smirking she strolled over to the office chair that was in the middle of the room and plopped down onto it.

"If I was a walkie talkie, where the f-word would I be?"

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><p><strong>9:30AM –WallyWorld<strong>

Sam parked Finn's truck right against the front doors of the store and nudged Mercedes to open the door so that they could exit the car through the passenger's side of the car. As the automatic glass doors slid open in front of him, he instantly knew this was a bad idea. Grabbing a shotgun from the bed of the truck, he turned and handed it to Mercedes. With wide eyes, she put both her hands up before turning back to the car and grabbing a silver baseball bat that once belonged to Noah.

"I'm not like you and Susie Q over here. I can't work a gun so I'll stick to this."

Sam chuckled softly before walking in ahead of the girls. He exhaled slowly and double checked his grip on the shotgun in his hands. Right as he was about to scream out, Quinn's hand flew over his mouth before pulling him back towards the entrance.

"Let me. I'll go in, and run around the store. If there is anything in there, I'll grab their attention."

"Quinn, are you insane? Rachel will kill me if I let anything happen to you. _I'll _kill me if anything happens to you."

Quinn sighed, a bit frustrated with her girlfriend at the moment. She knew she could do this. Before all of this madness, she woke up at the ass crack of dawn for Cheerio's practice which always began the same. Sue would make them run 5 miles every morning, including Saturdays. Santana, Brittany, and she were the fastest girls out of the group. She pulled her fingerless gloves over her slightly tanned hands and gripped both her pistols with force. Rachel would just have to suck it up.

"I'm going."

"Q-"

"Sam. I am going. Give me 3 minutes. That's all I need. I'm gonna take out any targets that are ahead of me. When I round back up to the front, you and 'Cedes can take out the ones behind me. Got it?"

She didn't wait on an answer from the blonde boy. Instead, she ran. The second she took down the first main isle, she cupped her gloved hands around her mouth as best she could what with 2 pistols occupying them.

"Come at me, motherfuckers!"

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><p><strong>9:45AM –Temporary Home<strong>

Tina walked around the first floor with her bat in hand. Like Mercedes, she was better at close range attacks rather than shooting a gun. Walking through the back kitchen door that led to the garage, she settled on organizing the supplies they had managed to scavenge over the last 3 weeks. She laughed at the small mess Blaine and Brittany had made earlier this morning when they were getting everything set for the groups that were going out. Those two were like children really. Boxes of ammunition were stacked on top of boxes that held smaller boxes of pancake mix. What a tongue twister, she thought. Walking farther in to the spacious garage, she saw the duffle bags full of canned food and bottled water leaning against the boxes that were ready to topple over. The real mess was in the clothes scattered all around the supplies. She wandered over to her electric Nissan LEAF and sat on the hood, but quickly jumped up as if it was on fire. Smiling like an 8 year old on Christmas morning, she ran back inside the house in search of her cell phone.

Upstairs, Brittany and Blaine were sitting on the railing of the porch that stretched across the entire front of the house. They each had snipers in their hands, every once in a while aiming and shooting it at a wandering zombie headed their way. It wasn't exactly the safest way to hunt down zombies, but they always were the more childish ones of the group. Of course it never bothered them when someone called them out on it. They both knew they were adorable.

"Blaine?"

"Yeah Britt Britt?"

"Why does everyone act like this is all ok? I mean… we're probably the only humans left in America and we have to sleep with like one eye open ya know? Nobody seems scared though…"

Blaine looked over at the blonde who was now staring at her scuffed up Chucks and smiled sadly. He knew his best friend was scared. Hell he was scared himself.

"Britt, everyone is scared. Do you not see how Santana grips onto you the second she sees you?" He glanced up from her shoes and smiled softly at her. "Everyone is scared B. Even Rachel and Puck. It's just... the universe kind of screwed us over ya know? We got dealt this bad hand and now we gotta roll with it. There's no point in sitting back and crying about it. We just gotta suck it up and try to find happiness in each other. Make sense?"

Brittany held her gun in her hand and looked down the street seeing a zombie headed their way. She thought over the words that had just left her best friend's mouth and nodded her head.

"Yeah. I tots get it" she replied before aiming down the zombie and blasting it's head off causing its body to land on the ground with a loud thud.

"10 points. Booyah!"

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><p><strong>9:35AM –WallyWorld<strong>

Quinn ran. She ran faster than she ever thought possible. Putting a bullet through a zombie's head that was walking towards her, she rounded the corner and ran towards Sam and Mercedes who were waiting by the glass doors.

"Incoming!"

Sam turned his head in her direction with his shotgun ready to shoot. His eyes, along with Mercedes', widened as they saw the group of at least 30 zombies that were right on her tail. As she ran towards them, she turned around continuing to run backwards and started shooting zombies directly in the head. Following her lead, Sam started shooting once the crowd got closer. Mercedes planted her feet on the ground and waited as zombie after zombie came towards her. When they were in her reach she swung her bat, effectively cracking skulls and splattering blood all over the floor. Once all was said and done they each released a breath they didn't realize they were holding.

"Ok well uh. Now what?"

Quinn rolled her eyes at Sam and shoved him towards the right side of the store while also shoving a duffle bag in his hand.

"Go find things we need. 'Cedes and I are gonna go grab some food. Be careful. I think we got them all but… you never know."

Sam nodded his head understanding what she meant. As he headed towards the toiletries, he glanced towards the electronics and made a mental note to stop by there before heading back to the house.

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><p><strong>10:00AM –Across the Police Station<strong>

"Ugh, when did it get so hot out? It's still April. What the actual fuck."

Mike laughed and opened his mouth to respond to the short brunette standing next to him but was cut off by his phone vibrating in his pocket. He looked down at the screen and upon seeing Tina's name, quickly hit answer.

"Hey everything ok?"

On the other side of town Tina smiled at the concern laced in her boyfriend's voice.

"Yup. Everything's fine. Put Rachel on the phone please. I need to speak with her."

"What? Why didn't you just call her on her phone?"

Rachel perked up and looked towards Mike. Watching him blush and mumble a low response to Tina, she reached for the phone once he handed it to her.

"Hey Tina what's up?"

"Rachel! What's big and yellow and has wheels that go round and round?"

"Um… a school bus?"

"Nope you're… absolutely correct. Ugh damn it Rachel, you weren't suppose to guess so quickly!"

Rachel bit back a laugh and looked towards Mike who looked as confused as she was. She failed to hold in her laugh when she realized Tina was still play arguing with her over the phone.

"Tina! Why the fuck are we talking about school buses?" Rachel asked as she let out a low laugh.

"_Because _Rach. It would be the perfect thing to keep our things in. Think about it, all our bags and gas containers can fit in it plus it can hold all of us if the situation ever presented itself. And trust me I know what you're thinking. We have enough cars as it is. If we get anymore it brings up the chance of getting separated. But I figured we can leave my car behind. It'd give Kurt, Santana, and Mercedes 2 extra batteries for their cars. And maybe Sam can drive it and-"

"TINA! Slow down woman. You had me at bags and gas containers."

Now Mike was _really_ confused.

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><p><strong>11:23AM –Kurt and Finn<strong>

Finn walked down the small street, gun in hand, waiting for Kurt to finish taking the gas from all of the abandoned cars that surrounded them. They were on their last street and had filled less than a quarter of their containers. It was frustrating, but they knew they weren't going to get much in this small town.

"Ahhh!"

Finn quickly spun around to face where Kurt was and raised his gun. He was confused when he realized there was no zombie in sight. "Kurt what's wrong?" he asked as he jogged towards his step brother.

"I spilled gasoline all over my shoes."

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><p><strong>12:30PM –Police Station<strong>

Santana walked into the front of the police station wearing a bullet proof vest she had found in the back closet while also carrying a box. She watched as Noah smiled at her holding 2 handheld radios in his hand. The 3rd one was laying next to the charging port which now had its cord wrapped around it. He slid one across the long desk towards her and pressed down on a button on the one in his hand.

"Testing testing 1, 2, 3"

Santana laughed as she heard his voice pour out of the speaker and picked up her handheld, examining it before putting it in the front pouch of her police vest.

"There are a few more in this box. I didn't get to count how many but I think it's a good enough amount."

She grabbed a vest from the top of the box and tossed it to Noah who looked up at her confused.

"Those zombie fuckers aren't shooting us but they are trying to bite us. They won't get through these though. Now grab this fucking box Puckerman. I can barely see over it."

Noah laughed and gripped the sides of the box after putting the charging port on top of everything. "Did you call Artie?" he asked her as they walked over to the doors and looked towards the street. Before Santana got a chance to answer him, Artie's black hummer rolled to stop right in front of the doors. Santana quickly unlocked the door and headed to the car with Noah behind her. As they entered the car, they heard gun shots ringing in the air. Once they were both in, Artie sped away doing a lap around the block that would give enough time for Rachel and Mike to climb down from the roof of the building they were on.

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><p><strong>12:35PM –Across the Police Station<strong>

"Go Chang Go!"

Rachel picked up her rifle, strapping it around her body and pushed Mike towards the fire escape. She pulled out her pistol from the front of her jean shorts and began firing shots at the few zombies that were looking up at them from around the fire escape. Mike kicked the metal latter praying for it to go down, frowning when it didn't. Rachel was 2 stairwells above him when she saw him leap down and tumble onto the floor.

"It's jammed! You're gonna have to jump. I'll catch you Rach, I swear."

Rachel let out a frustrated sigh and ran down the small sets of stairs. She lowered her body through the hole, arms on either side of the opening holding her up and looked down at Mike. He nodded his head and she dropped down into his arms. The second her body began falling, she felt heat shoot throughout her left forearm.

"FUCK!"

Mike quickly placed her on her feet and looked at her arm. Rachel had cut her arm on the side of the opening, creating a gash that wrapped around half of her forearm. Thinking quickly, he pulled his shirt over his head and wrapped it around the arm of the cursing brunette. They began jogging along the side of the building and broke out into a run when they saw Artie pull up on the curb in front of them.

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><p><strong>1:00PM –Temporary Home<strong>

Rachel lay on the couch with her head in Santana's lap as Tina looked over her arm. Everyone was back at the house besides Sam, Mercedes, and Quinn. The short brunette was growing impatient, wanting nothing more than to cuddle up with her girlfriend. She was also becoming worried, but of course she wouldn't admit that to the rest of her friends.

"You needs ta relax, Shorty. Q's got another hour."

Rachel nodded in agreement to what Santana said and gave her a small smile. She felt herself begin to relax as Santana played with her hair. She closed her eyes and suddenly felt the aftermath of the past 3 weeks hit her. Rachel barely slept, yet her body was still programmed to wake up extra early causing her to lose sleep. With eyes closed, she reached out to grab Santana's hand in her own before turning on her side and letting sleep wash over her.

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><p><strong>AN: I didn't wanna end it here guys but I also didn't wanna make you all wait any longer for an update. Plus, it's time for the season finale of Pretty Little Liars :p. Next chapter should be up within a few days. As always, reviews would be awesome! :)<strong>


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Sorry this has taken so long guys. It's short, I know. But I figured it's better than not updating. I'll add another chapter tomorrow or the day after. Kinda stuck in a funk right now. Enjoy.**

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><p><strong>3:24PM –Temporary Home<strong>

Rachel stirred from her sleep and instantly felt the pain overtaking her left arm. She looked down and noticed how wide the cut actually was. "Stitches" she mumbled under her breath. She moved as if to get up but stayed on the couch when she heard shushed voices to the right of her. She suddenly realized that her head was no longer resting on Santana's lap. Instead, the Latina's lap was replaced by a soft hoodie that smelled familiarly like Sam. Her racing heart began to slow down when she noted that one of those voices belonged to her girlfriend. _At least she's back._

"Shorty is never gonna go for it Q!" Santana whispered harshly to the blonde ex-cheerio. "Her Streisand loving ass will be up and out that door before you can even think of saying the words 'Stay here'."

Everyone in the house was lounging in the kitchen watching Santana, Quinn, and surprisingly Tina argue. They had been in high spirits when Sam, Quinn, and Mercedes drove up towards the house. Their spirits seemed to elevate when they saw the bed of the truck filled with full duffle bags. Quinn and Mercedes had been lucky enough to find untouched bags of chips and boxes of junk food so they didn't hesitate to grab everything in sight. They also found an entire isle stocked with enough soda to last them a few months. While loading up the bed of Finn's truck, they were grateful it was deep enough to lay down three layers of said soda boxes.

Rachel slowly sat up on the couch making sure no one saw her get up as the couch was in clear vision from the kitchen. She noticed her left arm was really just dead weight at this point. She could barely bend her elbow or lift her arm. Reaching down to grab her shoes, she looked across from her and noticed two things left on the coffee table for her. Someone else must have figured out that her arm would be useless and left her a sling. Her guess was Tina. The thing _next_ to the sling must have been left from Noah. After tying her shoes and thanking the stars for her fingers still being usable, Rachel reached across to grab the blue medical sling and started to secure her left arm in it. Of course it wasn't easy considering she could barely move her arm. She let out a frustrated sigh and was about to try again when a tall blonde came into vision and plopped onto the couch next to her. With no words being said, Rachel silently accepted the help. Once the sling was secured around her neck and her arm was resting comfortably in it, she turned to the blonde.

"How-"

"I saw you get up when I was sitting at the table. I also saw you fail with the sling. It was kind of adorable."

Rachel giggled and stood up while reaching her hand out towards Brittany. Smiling brightly, Brittany grabbed onto Rachel's hand but pulled her down onto her lap instead of standing up.

"Britt what're-"

Brittany covered Rachel's mouth, hoping no one had heard her protest and began whispering.

"Rach, Santana is mad. Not mad like when Lord Tubbington would jump on my bed when we were having sweet lady kisses. I mean like, so mad that she told Mike she was gonna throw him in a group of those zombie fuckers."

"Why is she so mad Britt?"

"Cause Mike let you get hurt."

Rachel sighed quickly glancing towards the kitchen and then focused her stare on the fidgeting blonde under her.

"Brittany. Why else?"

Groaning, Brittany threw her head back against the couch and covered her face. She was hoping Rachel would give up but deep down she knew she was stuck.

"Tina said you need stitches cause if not it's gonna feel like a monkey is hanging on your arm." Rachel smiled knowing those weren't Tina's exact words. "That's when she started yelling at Mike. Rach, we don't have any sutures. So we have to go to a hospital…"

Suddenly, it all clicked in the small diva's head. For her arm to heal properly, she needed it to be stitched up. For her arm to be stitched, they needed sutures. For them to acquire sutures, they'd have to go to a hospital. A hospital that undoubtedly was filled with flesh eating zombies.

"Yeah and where the fuck do you expect to find a doctor to stitch her up Change squared?"

Rachel cringed at her best friend's words. She jumped off of Brittany's lap and pulled her up as well. "Britt, go calm her down. Please."

Brittany nodded and walked towards the kitchen with Rachel in tow. Looking back at the coffee table, she moved quickly and grabbed the second object before rushing into the kitchen. Santana was being held back by Brittany, who had her arms wrapped around her girlfriend whispering calming words to her. Everyone else excluding Artie was wide eyed and standing away from Santana and Quinn, who had surprisingly joined Santana's side in the argument. Noah was leaning on the back wall of the kitchen with a smirk playing across his rough face. She noticed his hair was shorter and styled into an upright mohawk and made a mental note as to ask when that happened.

"So," Rachel started, "when are we going to the hospital?"

Everyone stared at Rachel with their mouths hanging open not fully expecting Rachel to be caught up to date in their discussion. No one answered so Rachel just looked over her shoulder at Noah, silently asking for a lighter. She brought the joint up to her lips and caught Noah's lighter with her right hand. Quinn, who was still standing next to Santana, licked her lips and watched as her girlfriend lit the joint and took long drags from it. Because really, what was hotter than watching Rachel fucking Berry in all her badassery?

"We aren't."

The response was short but firm and came minutes after Rachel had lit her joint. Not wanting to be too medicated by the joint in her hand, she passed the remains of it to Santana before turning around.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me."

Blaine stood up from his seat and challenged his step-sister with a knowing glare. She scoffed and pushed him back into his seat.

"Don't you dare pull the older brother card with me Blaine Anderson Berry. I don't give a shit if you're 6 months older or even if you were 20 years older. We are going. Do you not see my arm in a damn sling?"

Blaine slammed his fist onto the table, causing Brittany to flinch into Santana's side as he stood up once more with a fire in his eyes.

"Damn it Rachel! It's a deathtrap going into a hospital. What's the point, if none of us can even stitch you up?"

Rachel let out a very frustrated sigh and turned back around to face Santana and Quinn who of course were agreeing with her brother. Shaking her head in disappointment she began walking out of the kitchen.

Quinn shot out her hand as Rachel walked by and grabbed onto the front of her shirt not having missed the look the diva had given Santana and herself.

"Raspberry..." Quinn pleaded.

Rachel scoffed at the nickname she had grown to love and focused on the hand attached to her shirt. She didn't trust herself to look into those green eyes. "Don't." Rachel cleared her throat and looked towards Noah. "Where's Artie?" She asked before gently removing Quinn's hand from her shirt.

Noah walked over to his favorite 'bro' and draped his arm around her shoulders. Giving Quinn a sympathetic smile, he turned towards Rachel.

"Come on, he's upstairs trying to get the handhelds to work."

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><p>Noah and Rachel walked into the last room of the long upstairs hallway and took a seat on the bed next to Artie's workstation. It was really just a table with a bunch of wires and devices scattered across it but the way Artie was concentrating made it seem like so much more.<p>

"Hey Artie. What's the update?" asked Noah.

"We'll, I've fixed 2 and I'm working on the 3rd one right now but- Whoa! I thought it was just a cut boss?"

Rachel sighed and unconsciously fixed the strap of the sling around her neck.

"I'm fine. You were saying?"

Artie looked between Rachel and Noah and picked up on the tension. Something was off and he knew it. Not wanting to push Rachel, he turned back to the handheld radios in front of him. "I'm almost done with this 3rd radio. But I don't have enough wires to fix anymore and all the ones that Santana found in that box she brought back have some wiring problem. Well all but one anyways. It's like if someone purposely messed them up." Artie shook his head and rubbed his eyes underneath his glasses.

"Ok so how many does that leave us with?"

"Seven in total once I finish this one. Which will be in just a few minutes."

Rachel watched as Artie worked and within minutes, the radio came to life. He tested it out a few times and then placed it on the charging port next to him. "Those should be done charging completely by morning. If not, we can charge them in my car. I think Sam brought one of those plug adapter things for cars." He chanced a look at Rachel and noticed her discomfort due to her arm. "How bad is it?" he asked looking at Noah who was also glancing towards Rachel.

"Stitches."

Artie breathed out in relief. "Stitches aren't that bad" he said to no one in particular.

"It is when no one will let you step foot out of this damn place to get sutures" Rachel snapped.

Surprised at her outburst, Artie wheeled himself over to Rachel and began un-strapping her sling from her neck as Noah explained the argument that had taken place downstairs. Tired of arguing, Rachel let him do so without as much as a question. He unbandaged her arm and looked over the wide cut that was half wrapped around the diva's forearm.

"Wait so let me get this straight. They don't wanna go because no one in the house knows how to stitch up a cut? Seriously?" Artie asked flabbergasted.

"Exactly." Rachel replied a bit aggravated.

"Once this is stitched up you'll be able to use your arm almost 100%" Artie stated.

"I don't give a fuck if I have to stitch myself up. I need my arm and that hospital is a gold mine. What if one of us gets sick? We're always together. Everyone will get sick. We need all the medical supplies we can get at this point. But no, they don't think it's worth it." Rachel threw herself backwards on the bed, wincing in pain as she remembered that the sling wasn't around her neck anymore. Noah helped her sit back up so that Artie could reattach the sling to her body.

"Rachel, I could stitch this arm up with my eyes closed if I had the right materials."

Both Noah and Rachel shot up from the bed and eyed Artie with hope.

"Seriously?" they both screamed in unison.

Artie chuckled and wheeled himself back over to his workstation. He began cleaning it and motioned for the two 'jewbros' in front of him to take a seat once again. He smiled once they did and began his story.

"I always wanted to be a surgeon when I was a little kid" he started. Noah swallowed nervously hoping this story wouldn't end with them all in tears considering no one ever talked about the past anymore. "My mom was a surgeon. When I was 3, I told her I wanted to do what she did. So she used to slice open bananas and apples and oranges and then give them to me with sutures and I'd try to stitch them up. I did it up until I was 14. The day I got into the car accident and lost feeling in my legs. After that, I didn't think I could be a doctor even though I really wanted to be. That's when I got into all this tech stuff. I figured if I couldn't fix people, I'd use my love of fixing things to work with electronics."

Rachel and Noah looked at each other with blinding smiles.

"Artie, let's get your hummer ready. We're going to a hospital."


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Enjoyyyy :)**

* * *

><p><strong>5:31PM –Temporary Home<strong>

Everyone was currently sitting around in the living room. Santana was sitting on the couch with Brittany in her lap while Noah lounged next to them. Kurt, Finn, Sam, Mercedes, Tina, and Mike were spread out across the floor in front of the couch. Blaine sat sideways in the single seat with his legs draped over the arm rest and Quinn on his lap. Rachel, still slightly upset with the blonde stood near the entrance to the kitchen leaning against the wall.

"There's a hospital about an hour away from here. I figured instead of going tonight we can go tomorrow." Artie stated.

"Perfect. But Rachel stays outside. She's not going in there."

"Quinn-"

"No Artie I'm serious. She stays outside."

Artie looked over to Rachel who was clenching her jaw and trying to slow down her breathing. In an eerily calm manner, she looked over at Quinn. "Last time I checked, I can make my own fucking decisions." Realizing she had everyone's attention, she continued speaking. "So stop acting like I'm not in the room. If I choose to go in with you guys, I will. No one gets to decide for me. Now go pack up your shit so you guys can relax for the rest of the night. I'm going to get some sleep so I can take guard tonight. We leave at 7 tomorrow."

Without looking back, Rachel began her climb up the stairs and headed towards the room she was sharing with Quinn. Once inside, she grabbed her bag that was by the bed and headed towards the bathroom hoping a nice hot shower would be enough to get her to relax. 15 minutes later, Rachel stood by the bed with nothing but boy shorts on. She hadn't realized how difficult getting dressed would turn out to be. All she really wanted to do was lie in bed and sleep off some of this frustration. But sleeping in next to nothing wasn't really a good idea when she knew that at any given time she could be needed. Sighing in defeat she sat on the bed and settled with holding the towel against her bare chest as her thoughts consumed her. A short while after, a soft knock brought Rachel out of her thoughts and she half hoped it wasn't Quinn. She didn't really know what to say to her girlfriend at the moment.

"Rach? It's just the Puckster"

Letting out a sigh of relief, she secured the towel around her body and opened the door for Noah. He smirked as he walked into the room, making sure to close it and lock the door in the process.

"Having some trouble?" he jokingly asked as he nodded to the towel wrapped around her upper body.

"Actually, yes I am. I can move my arm a lot more but I can't reach behind me or anything. Hence the not wearing a bra thing."

There was a time where Rachel was a bit more hesitant when it came to being so bare around Noah. Back when they were still in high school and didn't have to worry about saving each other's lives. And it wasn't because he would blatantly hit on her and she would feel uncomfortable, because truthfully Noah was the only guy who wouldn't hit on her and Quinn especially once they both got together. It was more because he had always been her best friend. Her best _male _friend who knew every insecurity the shorter brunette had. The one who could break down her walls with one simple sentence. Yet he never did. He never told her she was ugly or that she needed to change a certain thing about her. He had always thought, no he had always _known_ she was incredibly beautiful. So he always told her so. The first time she had a date with Quinn and wouldn't leave her position in front of the mirror, Noah walked in to her bedroom, placed his hands on her shoulders and told her she looked amazing. Everything after that was history. She walked around almost naked in front of him and he wouldn't be a pig like every other jock she knew. He would simply help her pick out the perfect badass outfit and reassure her that she looked perfect. It was then that Rachel knew she could fully put down her walls around Noah and not have to be so scared. Which is why now, she was standing next to the bed allowing Noah to dress her.

"You know" Noah hesitantly started, not wanting to frighten Rachel as he noticed she was once again lost in her own thoughts. "She just doesn't want to lose you. She's lost everyone important in her life and she knows she won't be able to deal with losing you too."

Rachel sighed and moved her now fully clothed body to lie on the bed. Noah turned off the lamp on the bedside table allowing the setting sun to provide them minimal light and crawled in after her. They snuggled into each other, already familiar with this dance.

"Which is why maybe she and I shouldn't even be together" Rachel mumbled into her best friend's chest. "It's hard enough having to worry about losing any one of you guys. And you guys are just family. No romantic feelings attached. But Quinn, well she's... everything to me Noah. She's family _with _romantic feelings attached."

To prying ears, that would've sounded like a selfish thing to say. But Noah knew what she meant. Quinn wasn't just family to Rachel. She was her true love. Naturally, it was just _different. _Even if Rachel couldn't explain it in words, he understood. It didn't necessarily mean that he agreed with her doubts on her relationship.

"Seriously Rach? You may want to shut the fuck up before Santana uses her bat hearing and comes in here threatening to kick your ass Lima Heights style for even thinking that" Noah stated. He smiled proudly when he felt the small body attached to him shake with laughter.

"Yeah she probably _would_ threaten to kick my 'midget' ass."

Rachel full on laughed and was joined in by Noah when they heard a hard knock on the locked door making them look up in surprise.

"Oi tweedle dee and tweedle dumber! Stop talking shit!"

Santana's muffled voice as she walked away only caused them to laugh even louder. Tightening her grip on Noah's waist, Rachel looked up and stared at his hair for a few seconds.

"When did you cut your hair?" she softly asked him.

"Mercedes did it when you were sleeping on the couch earlier. She works wonders with a pair of scissors."

"Hmm… I like it. But now we can't call you squirrel head" she joked before finally settling in and letting sleep over take them.

* * *

><p>Six hours later Rachel found herself waking up in a dark room wrapped in the arms of her sleeping best friend. Looking over at her phone and realizing it was close to midnight, guilt immediately washed over the young brunette. She untangled herself from Noah making sure not to wake him and headed out of the room to relieve whoever had taken her night shift. Heading downstairs, Rachel doubled checked the inside of the house to make sure everything was okay before grabbing her silenced sniper and heading towards the balcony.<p>

"Quinn…"

Leaning over the wooden railing of the upstairs balcony, Quinn tiredly turned her head at the mention of her name. Rachel was leaning against the frame of the opening that lead to said balcony with a look in her eyes that the blonde couldn't exactly pinpoint.

"I knew you were sleeping with Puck so I just slept in Santana's room for a bit and then took your shift so you wouldn't have to wake up."

Now Rachel _really _felt guilty. She didn't stop to think of where Quinn would end up when she locked herself in their room with Noah. All day she had been an ass to her girlfriend and yet here Quinn was, looking out for her best interests. Rachel looked down at her shoes willing her tears to go away. She really didn't want to cry, especially when she wasn't the one being treated like shit. Still, the tears silently ran down her tan cheeks and before she had a chance to wipe them away, Quinn's hand reached up to brush them off. When she had gotten so close, Rachel didn't know. She uncrossed Quinn's arms and stepped into her embrace wrapping the arms of the blonde around her body and then wrapping her own arms around Quinn's waist forcing them to hug.

"I'm so sorry" she sobbed into her girlfriend's neck.

"Rae…" Quinn pleaded "don't. It's okay baby. You've been walking around like everything is fine for the past 3 weeks. Sooner or later you were gonna crash."

"I've been such an ass to you all day though. You don't deserve that" Rachel fought back as another set of tears washed over her.

"You're right. I don't deserve it" Quinn answered after a moment of silence passed between them. "But I wasn't being the easiest person to deal with either. It's just… you're hurt and I don't know how to help. So I act all psycho protective. But don't worry, Santana already yelled at me for pushing it too far."

Rachel's head snapped up and through moist eyes looked at Quinn.

"What did she say? I swear I will drag that Hispanic ass out of bed and beat her to a pulp if I have to. I don't care if she's one of my best friends. She doesn't get to just lecture you-."

Quinn laughed softly, remembering they were outside and shut Rachel up with a slow sensual kiss. Rachel stilled against soft lips still in surprise but eventually returned the action. Quinn nipped at her bottom lip before pulling it softly with her as she broke apart for air. She looked at Rachel and smirked.

"Some things just never change…"

* * *

><p><strong>April 24, 2012 8:25AM<strong>

"How the hell did we get stuck on top of a fucking roof instead of being inside that damn hospital?" Santana asked as she fired another shot from across the street into a zombies head.

"Girlfriends" Rachel mumbled as she shook her head.

* * *

><p>Down below, Artie and Noah drove through the long streets of Nashville, Tennessee with the rest of the group. In the bed of Noah's truck sat Brittany, Blaine, Tina, Mercedes, and Mike. All were equipped with guns and all had army backpacks filled with ammo. They had already put a dent into their ammo supply and they hadn't even reached the hospital which didn't go unnoticed by Noah. Sighing, the mohawk sporting teen grabbed his handheld as he turned another corner and headed towards the hospital making sure Artie was still following.<p>

"Rachel?" he asked while turning up the volume on the handheld.

"Go for Santana" he heard the fiery Latina reply.

"Lopez. We need to get into that hospital as soon as possible. Are the doors still crowded?"

"There's about 17 left out on the streets. We can see through the doors though and it doesn't look so good Puck" she honestly replied.

He slammed his fist down on the dashboard of his truck and slowed down as he stopped the truck in the middle of the abandoned street. Turning around in his seat, he popped open the window to the back of the truck and was met with curious eyes. His head turned at the sound of Artie pulling up next to them and motioned for the rest of them to turn up their handhelds.

"Guys, listen up. We're losing too much ammo just driving around. Santana and Rachel are clearing as much of the street that they can but when we get there… Just rush to the doors and watch each other's backs. Got it?"

Everyone nodded numbly and strained their ears when Santana's voice came through the handheld.

"Yeah and don't get bit bitches. I won't hesitate to bust a cap in one of ya asses."

* * *

><p>When Noah and Artie pulled up to the hospital they were pleasantly surprised. Santana and Rachel had been able to take out most of the walkers that were around the hospital entrance in the short time it had taken them to arrive. They parked their cars in the shade, hidden from anywhere else and lightly jogged to the entrance with Noah wheeling Artie to the groups pace. When they got to the doors Noah stopped them and pulled out the rest of the handhelds. He gave one to Brittany who would be with Blaine, one to Mercedes who would be with Sam, and one to Finn who would be with Kurt. He pulled Quinn to his side and she nodded, glad to be partnered with Noah. Artie, Tina, and Mike were all together but Noah still gave Tina a handheld radio.<p>

"Keep the walkies in the front pocket of your vests and make sure to keep the volume level low. No more using our phones. Leave those open in case… Just leave the phone lines open." Noah addressed the group as they suited up with the bullet proof police vests Santana had looted yesterday. "We'll clear out the lobby and then head in different directions. Grab anything you can. Bandages, pills, cream, whatever you can use you take. And _please_ be very fucking careful." Noticing he had an extra handheld he turned around and squinted in the direction of Rachel and Santana. Satisfied at seeing them standing on the roof of a small bar, he jogged across the street to stand in front of it and smiled up at them. Pushing down the button on his own handheld, he addressed Rachel.

"Yo Jewbabe, incoming!" he said before throwing it up and over towards Rachel.

Up top, Rachel ran backwards and allowed the handheld to land against her chest and fall into the opening of her sling. She laughed when she heard the muffled voice of Santana cutting through the speaker.

"What the fuck Puckerman! If you don't get your ass eaten alive, I'm killing you myself for that one, _malcriao_!"

"Love you too Lopez. Love you too"

* * *

><p>Sam and Mercedes walked silently through the halls of the top floor of the hospital looking for a lab Artie had said would definitely be up there. The group of teenagers had been searching the hospital for about an hour now and they were constantly keeping in contact. Sam had been lucky enough to fill about 34th of his army backpack with pain killers and bandages and was now hoping to find some morphine.

"Aha! Found it!"

"Sam be careful" warned Mercedes as they walked in to the lab. She walked over to glass case that held all the small containers of morphine and sighed in frustration.

"You need a code to get into it."

"Not a problem 'Cedes."

Sam walked towards the back of the lab and picked up the empty fire extinguisher that lay on the floor. He grabbed the first aid kit that was strapped to the wall and walked over to Mercedes, handing it to her. She announced through the handheld that they had picked up another first aid kit and had found the morphine.

"It is way too quite up here" she whispered while looking around.

As soon as the words left her lips, a loud crash echoed through the lab followed by a sharp ringing that rang throughout the entire top floor. She looked over at Sam who was now surrounded by broken glass and wearing a guilty expression and began stuffing the morphine into his backpack.

"What the hell Sam? That wasn't an invitation to set the alarm off!"

"Run!"

The two teens ran out of the lab and towards the nearest staircase before warning the rest of the group to exit the hospital. Sam pushed open the door to the staircase allowing Mercedes to go first before following after her. They were two staircases down when they heard the all too familiar noise of moans and footsteps. Looking over the railing, Mercedes froze in fear at the sight before her. Dozens of zombies were rushing up the stairs heading straight towards the duo.

"Mercedes move!"

Sam tugged on the girls hand and pulled them back up to the top floor. They ran down the hall and rounded a corner heading for the exit towards the roof. As they rounded the corner and took off down another hallway, Mercedes stumbled forward almost losing her balance. Her phone slipped out of her pocket sliding across the floor as it began to vibrate.

"Sam my phone!"

"Leave it!"

"Someone's calling! It can't be one of us. Sam I need it!"

Sam stopped running and glanced down the hallway in search of the phone. He knew it was risky, especially since he could hear the group of zombies approaching them. But this could be their ticket to being safe. Sighing he turned to Mercedes and pointed to the stairs that led to the roof.

"Don't look back and don't you dare stop running. Rach said there's a fire escape on the left side of the roof. Go. I'll be right behind you."

Sam pushed her towards the stairs and took off in a sprint towards the phone.

* * *

><p>"I see Mercedes! She's coming from the roof." Rachel spoke into the handheld. Squinting her eyes, she waited for a tall blonde to emerge from the same doorway Mercedes just did. When she didn't see Sam right behind her, she turned her head towards Santana before breaking into a sprint towards the hospital with Santana hot on her trail.<p> 


	5. Chapter 5

Everyone watched the two girls run across the street with panic displayed across their faces. No one really knew what to say, including Rachel and Santana, as they had begun working in silence. Everyone watched in fear as Rachel unstrapped her sling and tossed it to Noah who effortlessly caught it. Santana had already jumped and climbed the fire escape when Rachel finally approached it. She jumped up and climbed it quickly, before following Santana up the flights of stairs that led to the roof. With the girls now out of view, Noah turned to Mercedes and shook his head in confusion.

"What the hell happened 'Cedes?"

"Someone called me…" the dark girl replied with wide eyes. Tears quickly gathered in them as she looked towards Noah. "I'm sorry" she choked out before being forced into a hug by Kurt.

* * *

><p>"Damn it Trouty, where the fuck <em>are<em> you?" Santana all but screamed into the handheld that was clutched tightly in her left hand. Ripping open the door to the top floor of the hospital, Rachel and Santana stepped onto the floor ready to run. Just as they were about to take off in another sprint, Sam rounded the far corner across from them.

"Trouty!"

"Bullets! I need bullets!" He screamed as he ran towards the two girls. Thinking quickly, Santana pulled out her two pistols from their holsters and screamed out to him once again.

"Slide home!"

"What?"

"Fucking think baseball, guppy lips!"

Sam's eyes widened in realization and he quickly lowered his body allowing himself to slide down the hallway as he would if he were sliding to home base during a baseball game. Just as his leg hit the floor, Santana and Rachel began firing shots into the zombies that were trying to get their hands on their blonde friend. Rachel stopped shooting long enough to pull Sam up as he slid by them. Mumbling a quick thanks to the brunette, he grabbed Santana by the arm and pulled her towards the exit with them. They stumbled onto the roof and Rachel once again found herself thanking the stars that they were ok. She led Santana and Sam to the fire escape allowing them to climb down and into the waiting arms of the rest of the group. She turned back to the door they had just came out of and waited with her gun already aimed. Surely enough, the remaining zombies came tumbling through the doors and settled their eyes on the short brunette. Without thinking twice, Rachel slipped on her aviators and began putting bullets through each of their heads.

"Raspberry?"

She ignored the call of her girlfriend through the handheld as she put a bullet into the forehead of the last zombie and watched it drop to the ground with a loud thud. It wasn't that she wanted to ignore Quinn; she really wanted nothing more than to run into her arms and just _breathe_. But her emotions were all over the place at this point. Rachel hated situations like this with a passion. It wasn't the first time one of them had been close to being a meal, but that didn't make it any easier.

"Yo! Shorty!"

Rachel's head snapped up at the sound of the Latina's voice. Santana stood at the top of the fire escape with a frown sketched into her tan face. Rachel didn't know when it happened, but she somehow ended up kneeling on the ground with tears threatening to spill from the corners of her eyes. She let out a slow breath and walked over to Santana.

"You ok Shorty?"

Rachel gave her a small nod and tried to walk past her but was stopped when soft hands came to rest on her biceps.

"Rachel…" Santana tried once more. She lifted her arms up to remove the sunglasses that were covering Rachel's eyes. But before she succeeded in doing so, Rachel jerked her head back and looked at the ground.

"Don't Santana."

That's when Santana realized that those were the first words Rachel had said since they began running towards the hospital.

* * *

><p><strong>1:34PM<strong>

Rachel sat on the edge of the bed on Noah's truck as the group was stopped on the side of the highway. They were all sitting around eating and trying to forget about the scare they had gone through that morning.

"Alright Boss, time to clean you up."

Rachel nodded in agreement with Artie and began to unwrap the bandages around her left forearm. She laid her arm down across her thigh and watched as Artie pulled out a few disinfecting wipes to clean her injury.

"Ok let me just grab some morphine and a needle so you don't feel me stitching you up."

"No."

Rachel stared straight ahead and was grateful that she was still wearing her aviators so that he couldn't see the way her eyes were threatening to tear. Quinn had been correct when she said that sooner or later Rachel would crash. She was feeling every emotion heightened and she didn't really know what to do about it. But she also didn't want her friends to see that she was upset.

"Rachel this is going to hurt and badly. Let me just use a little-"

"Just get Quinn and Noah. And please don't bring any medicine Artie. Save it for bigger problems."

Artie stared at her skeptically but rolled away in his wheel chair in search of the people she had requested. When she saw Noah approach her, she pointed to the front pocket of his police vest and thanked him when he handed her the joint that was stashed away in it.

"You ok cupcake?" Quinn asked as she moved to sit on the bed of the truck next to her girlfriend.

Rachel nodded and leaned in to press her lips up to Quinn's. A bit surprised, Quinn placed her left hand on the bottom of Rachel's back to steady herself and slowly began kissing her back. She knew that at this moment, Rachel really just needed to kiss her worries away. Quinn's lips were acting as a flame, burning away the fear that had been stuck in the pit of Rachel's stomach all morning long. Pulling away, Rachel snuggled into her girlfriend's side effectively putting her head in the crook of Quinn's neck and grabbed a hold of her hand as Artie began stitching up her cut.

A few moments later, Rachel stood by the side of Noah's truck with her arms around Quinn's waste and was slowly kissing her. They had been standing there for over 10 minutes in the same position as now, nobody having the heart to break them up. They weren't really sure what was going on with their small friend but they were smart enough to realize that something was off.

"Rach, we gotta go…" Noah mumbled into the handheld as he sat in the front seat of his truck. He looked at his side mirror and turned on his truck as he saw the two girls pull away. Rachel turned her head towards the group and then turned back around to her girlfriend.

"Tell Noah I'm riding with Mercedes for now."

Quinn nodded and pecked her girl's lips once more before getting in the truck with Noah and repeating the brunette's words to him.

* * *

><p>They had been driving in silence for 20 minutes before she decided to say anything. Mercedes was confused to say the least when Rachel opened her passenger door and plopped herself down onto the seat. She still had her aviators on so Mercedes couldn't really figure out if Rachel was upset or just being.. <em>quiet.<em>

"So who called you?"

Mercedes unconsciously gripped her steering wheel tighter as she thought back to the miss call on her smart phone.

"Damian" she whispered harshly.

Rachel turned to look at her and ripped her sunglasses off, her expression full of shock. If the situation was any different, Mercedes would have full on laughed at the diva for looking so ridiculously dramatic when removing her aviators. Except the situation wasn't different, and Mercedes didn't really feel like laughing at all.

"Did you- I mean, you called back right?"

"Yeah. But I didn't get an answer. It went straight to voicemail." Mercedes bit back a sob as she thought about her 15 year old brother. If he was still alive, she could only guess that he was scared shitless. Was he with any relatives? Was he ok? Was he surviving the way they were? She had so many questions and it was frustrating not knowing any answers.

Rachel stared at the girl next to her before leaning back against the door behind her.

"Is he in Lima?"

"South California. After he got kicked out of McKinley at the beginning of the year, my dad sent him to my uncle's ranch in Willowbrook. It's a small city outside of Los Angeles."

"You know how to get there Cedes'?"

Mercedes thought about it before quickly glancing at Rachel as she drove behind Noah.

"If I was in Los Angeles, yeah I could get there in a heartbeat girl."

Rachel nodded before straightening herself out on the passenger seat. She reached into the front pocket of her police vest and pulled out the handheld radio.

"Artie"

"Yeah boss?"

"Head west. We're going to LA."

* * *

><p><strong>3:15PM –Little Rock, Arkansas <strong>

Rachel, Noah, Finn and Sam walked into the spacious garage and took in the scene before them. There were two abandoned motorcycles towards the back but other than that, the garage was empty aside from all the car pieces and tools that surrounded the walls. Finn couldn't help but think back to when he used to work at his step father's garage back in Lima. It wasn't as big as this one, not even close. Burt Hummel's garage held up to 8 cars at once. This one that he was standing in must have been twice its size. It didn't mean he couldn't help but feel the slight tug on his heart as he thought about his stepdad and his garage.

"Incoming!"

Rachel laughed at the childish tone her girlfriend used and opened the door to allow her in. One by one the group filed into the garage with their cars and their new addition, a school bus. Gently grabbing Finn by the elbow, she walked towards the bus with the young mechanic in tow.

"I can fix this in like an hour Rach. It's just a blown out headlight. Everything else looks good."

"Good. Cause once you fix it it's yours to drive Finn."

"Wait what?"

Rachel laughed at the confused look on his face, not that it was a new look for him, and walked away to find Sam. She found him leaning on the side of Mercedes' car whispering and laughing with the girl in front of him. Not wanting to interrupt a moment between the duo, she turned around and walked back in the direction of Finn. Before she was able to make it back to him, Noah caught her attention through the handheld.

"Rach… Come here."

She stopped and looked around, spotting Noah at the end of the garage. He was sitting on the hood of his truck looking her way and she made her way towards him. Jumping up next to him, she sat down and snuggled into his side.

"How's the arm?" he asked her.

"Good" Rachel replied, beaming up at him. "Artie was right. Once he stitched me up I could move it around a lot more."

"So… wait does that mean I can't help you get dressed anymore?" he replied with a smirk.

Laughter bubbled up in Rachel's throat, escaping her lips and she squeezed Noah affectionately. She was glad for the change in moods. Earlier everything felt so heavy and weighed down but now… well now she was allowing herself to believe that everything would be ok.

Quinn punched Noah in the arm and walked around the truck to stand in front of her girlfriend.

"You're lucky she has a soft spot for you Puckerman-"

"Face it Q, you love me just as much as my fellow Jew."

"-or else I would've had Santana kick your ass a long time ago if she didn't."

"Yeah bitch!"

The trio laughed as Santana's voice rang throughout the garage. Quinn smiled at Noah and gave him a quick hug before pulling away and once again punched him in the arm. Rachel smiled at the two, enjoying the easy flowing banter between them and pulled Quinn into her arms.

"I will never understand how she manages to hear everything that's said about her" Noah said with a slight chuckle. "Anyways, let's go exploring. I need more joint papers. And we all need more... something."

Quinn laughed and pulled Rachel off the hood before turning around and grabbing an army backpack full of bullets. She secured the straps on her shoulders and ran towards the truck that was already heading towards the exit. Jumping on to the bed of truck as it was exiting the garage, Quinn gave a thumbs up to Artie who was operating the door. He tossed a GPS at her and warmed them to not get lost… or eaten.

* * *

><p><strong>6:30PM<strong>

"Seriously Puck? You forgot to put gas in your own truck? How stupid are you?"

"BABE! Calm down!"

"Yeah 'Quinneth'"

"Noah shut up. Q, I'm sure he just made a simple mistake."

"Nothing new there."

"HEY!"

Rachel sighed and threw her arms up in defeat. Never again would she agree to go out with Noah and Quinn at the same time. One minor problem and they were down each other's throats acting like a pair of 5 year olds. Walking away from the arguing teens she grabbed her handheld and hoped she wasn't too far from the garage where everyone else was.

"Santana? Please tell me you can fucking hear me. I may kill someone if you can't."

Santana's laughter poured through the speaker of the handheld causing the corner of Rachel's lips to go up.

"Whaddup Shorty? Everything ok?"

"If ok means Quinn and Noah standing in the middle of the road arguing, then yeah everything is fucking dandy."

Once again Santana's laughter filled the air as Rachel began to explain their current situation.

* * *

><p><strong>7:13PM -Garage<strong>

"Raspberry wait."

Rachel walked behind Santana and Brittany into the garage with Quinn and Noah right behind her.

"Rachel."

"No. You and Noah are on my bad side as of right now. Until you two can get along without arguing, I'm done speaking to the both of you."

Quinn and Noah scoffed at the idea of having to get along even though they were close friends. Shaking her head, Rachel walked over to Quinn and gave her a quick peck on the lips.

"It's fine when you guys are joking around. But this? All this arguing and shit? No. Fix _this_."

She turned and began to walk away but stopped when she heard Quinn speaking to Noah.

"She likes me better. I got a kiss and you didn't get shit."

"Quinn!"

With eyes wide like a deer caught in headlights, the blonde blushed and looked down at the floor.  
>She managed to mumble out a quiet "sorry" which almost went unheard due to Noah's laugh. Rachel shook her head once more and headed towards the school bus that Finn had been meant to fix.<p>

"Finn?" Rachel called out as she approached the bus. "You in there?"

"Yeah Rach, just come in"

Rachel walked on to the school bus and took in her surroundings. When she had left, Finn had agreed on fixing one of the headlights. When she returned, Finn had completely rearranged the inside of the bus. All the seats had been removed and reattached against the walls of the bus, giving them more room in the isle. The windows had been covered by makeshift curtains that were red and white which she of course had to laugh at.

"Keeping the school spirit huh Finn?"

The tall boy laughed from where he was crouching at the back of the bus having just finished bolting down the last seat against the wall.

"Hey if I have to give up my truck for this, I'm making it my baby."

Rachel nodded and sat down on one of the seats, quickly followed by Finn.

"Sam helped out a lot with the seats and with the lights in the corners. I was gonna leave it like that but then Kurt showed up and you know how he is. Can you believe he tried to convince me to paint the walls? I mean… can you even paint the inside of a school bus?"

* * *

><p><strong>10:54PM<strong>

Rachel walked around the garage that was being used as their home for the evening and began collecting all the trash from their dinner earlier. Tina had made chicken alredo minus the chicken which seemed to up everyone's moods. The only down side was that everyone had passed out about a half hour ago, leaving a mess of empty soda cans and plastic plates scattered across the floor. The only ones that were visibly awake besides Rachel were Santana and Artie. Artie was in the small office towards the back working on the broken handhelds and Santana was off drawing crude figures on Noah and Sam's faces.

"Need a hand?"

Rachel turned quickly, obviously startled by the soft voice behind her. She couldn't help but smile at the sight before her. Quinn stood before her wearing her old cheerio sweatpants and one of Rachel's muscle shirts. Earlier events completely forgotten, Rachel leaned forward and pecked her girlfriend on the lips.

"Go back to sleep babe. I'm fine with cleaning up."

Quinn shook her head and grabbed the trash bag from Rachel's hand before giving the shorter girl her backpack.

"Just let me help Raspberry. There's a bathroom with a shower next to the office. Not the greatest bathroom but there's hot water. Go shower. I'll be on the back of Finn's truck when you're done."

Rachel smiled in admiration at the blonde standing in front of her. Throwing her bag over her shoulder, she pressed another kiss to Quinn's lips and headed toward the bathroom. 20 minutes later, she stepped out of the bathroom, towel-drying her hair. As she passed the office, she glanced in and saw that Artie was still awake and working. Glancing back towards Finn's truck, she dropped her bag by the door and walked into the small office.

"Maybe you should get some rest Artie."

"I'm almost done Boss. I don't mind" he replied with a smile. "I'm just mapping out the way to Los Angeles. If you're up for it, I have a few suggestions."

Rachel pulled up a seat next to the desk that Artie was working at and sat down with her front facing the back of the chair.

"The floor's all yours Abrams."

"We'll for starters… We need to start traveling at night. I know that seems crazy but if we leave tomorrow at around 6 we can drive throughout the night and make it to Clovis, New Mexico by 7 the next morning."

Rachel nodded trying to keep up with his reasoning.

"What's so special about Clovis?" she asked.

"Well nothing really. But it's a small town so we can make a pit stop there. Find somewhere to crash and clean up before we head out again. It'll be easier to do this when the sun is rising which is why I think we should drive throughout the night."

"How long of a drive?" Rachel asked as she wiped the exhaustion from her eyes.

"12 hours. And then from there it's another 15 to Los Angeles. But we can double up on drivers. Maybe everyone can switch off halfway there? I've been teaching Blaine how to drive my Hummer so I can take him with me."

Rachel stood from her seat and stretched her legs before turning back to Artie. "Sounds golden Artie. We'll go over it again in the morning, k? Right now, we need sleep." Wheeling them out of the office, she led Artie to his hummer and helped him get situated in the back seat. Wishing him a goodnight, Rachel headed towards her sleeping girlfriend. Climbing onto the bed of Finn's truck, Rachel made sure to not wake her girlfriend as she snuggled into her side. She wrapped her arm around Quinn's waist which caused the blonde to unconsciously roll onto her back and pull Rachel into her side. Sighing, Rachel nuzzled her head into the crook of Quinn's neck and finally allowed the exhaustion put her to sleep.

**AN: So, I'm extremely sorry for the amount of time I make you guys wait for an update. I don't really have an excuse other than I have such a horrible case of ADHD it ain't even funny. See, when I'm "medicated" I write page after page in one sitting. But usually I just write single paragraphs at a time. I like taking my time so that I can actually keep my story on track and not have it be all over the place. I'll try to be quicker. Anyways, reviews would be nice and I hope you guys enjoyed the update :)**


	6. Chapter 6

**April 25****th****, 2012**

**5:37PM**

Rachel sighed in relief as she stared at the paper in front of her. Artie had thankfully organized everything down on paper knowing that in a group of 13, things could easily get confusing. She went over the list one more time as she headed out to the group of teenagers who were getting the vehicles ready. Most of them were surrounding the school bus they had gotten the day before as that is where most of their supplies were being held. Giving them a few extra minutes to finish up, Rachel headed towards Artie's hummer knowing she'd find him and Blaine already in there.

"Hey" she greeted nonchalantly as she reached the driver's side window.

"Hey" both boys replied equally.

"Is your car ready to go through the night?" Rachel asked as she leaned on the open window. She'd be lying if she said she wasn't worried about Artie and Blaine. Artie's car ran on sunlight and they were planning on traveling through the night which could obviously be a problem.

"I parked the car outside and had it there for most of the day charging the backup generators. It'll be fine Rach." Blaine responded to his younger sister.

Rachel nodded and took another glance at the teens scattered around the garage before turning back to address Artie. "How many radios were you able to fix?" she asked while looking at her own handheld radio clutched in her left hand.

Artie scratched his forehead in concentration and thought back to the night before.

"In total there's 15…?" he asked more than told the small girl.

Rachel furrowed her eyebrows together a bit thrown off at his answer. Was he telling her or asking her? Artie looked up at her hoping she wouldn't be upset that he had forgotten an important detail. Shrugging it off, she offered a small smile at the worried look sketched on his face.

"So everybody has their own?"

"Yup" Artie replied with more confidence than before.

Rachel nodded her head once more before turning on her heel and heading towards the car she would be driving. After getting settled in to Kurt's black Chevy Volt, she looked in the backseat making sure the proper supplies had been left there for her. Bringing the handheld up towards her mouth, Rachel pushed down on the proper button that would allow everyone else to hear her.

"Ok guys listen up…"

She let out a low chuckle as a few of her friends confusingly looked around the garage searching for her before realizing her voice was coming from their handhelds.

"You guys will switch off drivers in six hours" she began. "Clovis is 12 hours away so we can split the drive in half and we can refuel and change out the batteries for the electric cars. But if anyone at any moment feels they can't keep driving, say something. We'll stop for a bit and rest up if we have to. Other than that, make sure you guys have something to eat and drink. Any questions?"

She waited for a response but none came so she continued onward.

"Ok so the list goes as is: Santana and Britt take Santana's car. Tina & Mike take their car. Finn and Sam take the school bus. Noah and Quinn drive Noah's truck. Artie and Blaine are in the hummer. Kurt and Mercedes take Mercedes' car and I'll take Kurt's. Once again, any questions?"

Rachel looked through the windshield of Kurt's car towards her friends waiting to see if anyone would speak up. Just as she thought no one would, a voice came through the speaker of her handheld.

"Shorty what the fuck? You can't drive 12 hours _straight_."

Rachel groaned at Santana's statement not really having it in her to reply. She knew they would only get into an argument if she did.

"Was that a gay joke..?" Quinn's voice suddenly filled the car.

Rachel couldn't help but laugh at her girlfriend's question. Shaking her head, she turned on the car and reassured Santana that she would be fine.

* * *

><p><strong>April 26<strong>**th****, 2010 **

**12:03AM**

Rachel slowed the car to a stop behind Mercedes' car before cutting the engine off and allowing herself to relax. The rest of the group was already out of their cars, changing batteries and filling up gas tanks. Grabbing her silenced pistols from the passenger seat, Rachel rolled her head from side to side suddenly feeling very tense. Just as she was about to get out of the car, a knock was heard as Sam's body made an appearance at her window.

"I'll switch out your battery for you Rach" he mumbled into the handheld with a smile on his face, still in a daze from being woken up just a few minutes ago.

"Thanks Sam" she replied smiling warmly at him.

Rachel stepped out of the car, giving Sam room to work. A light breeze blew by them and Rachel subconsciously wrapped her arms around herself regretting not grabbing a jacket before they had left the garage. She was about to grab a jacket from the bus but the sound of Sam's voice halted her movements.

"So Rach, Finn and I were talking earlier..." the blonde boy began as he opened the hood of the car and leaned in.

"Uh huh" Rachel replied not really paying attention. Her attention was suddenly drawn to Noah who was helping Mercedes change the batteries in her car. She furrowed her eyebrows together wondering when _that_ happened. She decided to grill him about it later and let her eyes wander towards the three Cheerios that were huddled together. Santana stood in the middle, leaning against her car and talking animatedly about one thing or another. Rachel couldn't help but smile at the way Brittany had her arms wrapped around Santana's waist with her head thrown back in the midst of a laugh. And then there was Quinn. She stood to Santana's left with her hands stuffed into the pockets of her old Cheerios jacket laughing along with Brittany. Rachel's mind wandered back to the first night Quinn and her were _intimate_. The Cheerios had just won Nationals so the level of excitement was ground breaking. Rachel had stood in the McKinley parking lot waiting for her girlfriend when she caught a glimpse of the trio who were in a similar position as they were now. Rachel knew she'd never forget that night.

"You're drooling Shorty"

Rachel blushed at Santana's words that spilled through hers, and everyone else's, handhelds and quickly turned back to Sam who was now staring at her with a smirk on his face.

"You didn't catch any of that huh?" Sam asked while failing to hide the grin on his face that seemed to reach both ears.

Groaning in embarrassment, Rachel covered her now burning red face with her hands and shook her head from side to side. "Sorry" she mumbled while her hands still covered her face.

"It's cool" Sam laughed while prying Rachel's hands away. "I was just saying that maybe when we get to Clovis we can find another garage to stay at. Finn and I think we can alter the cars a bit so that they run on more than one battery at a time."

"If it doesn't take too long, then uh… yeah that's fine."

Sam scratched his head in confusion. "Do we have to be in LA at a certain time or something? What's going on Rachel?"

Rachel nervously played with the bottom of her muscle shirt thinking of a way to avoid this question. She really didn't want to lie to him but she also knew Mercedes didn't want anyone to know about her brother's phone call.

"Just trust me when I say the quicker we get there the better, ok?"

Shrugging his shoulders, Sam just nodded in agreement and walked back to the bus seeing that it was his turn to drive. Another breeze swept over Rachel's body and she shivered due to her body still being warm from her earlier embarrassment.

"Hey superstar"

Rachel smiled and turned around as Quinn finished draping her Cheerios jacket over her girlfriend's shoulders.

"You looked cold so I figured you could use a jacket" Quinn stated. "Plus it's been a while since I've seen you in my Cheerios gear."

Rachel laughed whole heartedly as she thought back to the days where Quinn would purposely leave her jacket at Rachel's house, hoping to see her girlfriend sporting it at school the next day. Her laughter died down as Quinn wrapped her arms around her waist and gave her a quick peck on the lips.

"I love you so much Rae"

Rachel couldn't help her heart from racing at the blonde's confession. Leaning in once more, Rachel stood on the tips of her toes and brought their lips together in a slow kiss. Smiling she pulled away but kept their lips close together.

"I love you too babe."

It was in that moment that Rachel realized that she had one good thing, aside from her friends-turned-family, to hold on to even through all the bad.

* * *

><p><strong>6:19AM –Clovis, New Mexico<strong>

Rachel couldn't stop her leg from bouncing up and down as she pulled into the garage behind Finn. Even after the many assurances to her girlfriend and Santana that she was fine while driving, they still insisted for the young brunette to have a Red Bull or two. They had reached Clovis about 20 minutes ago and had finally found a place to crash. The sun hadn't risen yet which made clearing the building a bit more difficult without their flashlights or the sunlight they were counting on. It wasn't as big as the garage in Little Rock but they were able to squeeze in every vehicle but Artie's Hummer and Noah's truck. All the boys, excluding Kurt and Artie, instantly began working on the electric cars trying to double the amount of travel distance. Tina and Mercedes had moved to the school bus to get some sleep where they found Kurt already counting sheep. Brittany and Santana had moved into the backseat of their car, hoping to catch a few hours of sleep themselves.

"Take a nap with me?"

Rachel turned towards Quinn who was sitting in the passenger's seat of Kurt's car, pointing towards the back seat. She offered the blonde a small apologetic smile knowing she was too pumped up from the red bulls to sleep. At the sight of Quinn's smile vanishing, she reached over the middle console and grabbed her hand.

"Let me just check up on everyone and then I'll come back and we can cuddle up on the back seat babygirl."

Quinn quickly agreed, her heart fluttering at the affectionate term used by Rachel. As she made her way onto the backseat, Rachel exited said car and made her way over to the group of boys working on the cars.

"Jew babe!" Puck greeted Rachel as she approached the group. She smiled at her fellow Jew and gave him a high five before turning her attention to the car in front of them.

"How's it coming along?" she asked.

"Fucking awesome Rach, we were able to figure this shit out quick so-"

"Actually Rachel, it was me who figured it out" Finn interrupted with a smile. "Well me and sort of Sam too."

Standing behind Rachel, Noah gave Finn his best 'what-the-fuck' face. Rachel stood flabbergasted, a bit thrown off by the tall boy's statement. She didn't know whether to congratulate him or scowl at his self appraisal. _They were supposed to be a group who figured everything out together_, she thought.

"Uh… ok. I guess you don't need Noah to help you out then. Let's go Puckster."

"Wait no I-"

"You used the nickname!" Noah half screamed in response, drowning out Finn's retort. Rachel really couldn't help but smile at the look of happiness on her best friends face.

* * *

><p><strong>6:30AM<strong>

Rachel sat on the edge of the roof with Noah, allowing her feet to swing freely in front of her. They had escaped here after that weird moment with Finn, only stopping to pick up a pair of rifles and some ammunition.

"What the fuck was up with Finn?" Noah asked as he slipped on his sunglasses. The sun had barely begun to rise minutes prior to their arrival on the roof but Noah found it as an opportunity to slip on his sunglasses and go into 'badass' mode as he called it. He pulled out the necessary supplies from his vest to make a joint, and looked to Rachel waiting for an answer.

"I have no clue" Rachel stated as she watched Noah roll them a joint. She turned to sit facing him, allowing her back to press against a backup generator behind her. "It's like he was trying to… I don't even know…"

"To impress you?" Noah finished for her.

Rachel looked away towards the rising sun and bit her lip in frustration. She didn't need this right now. They_ all_ didn't need this right now. They were stuck in the middle of a fucking zombie apocalypse for crying out loud. She was sure they could do without the jealous friend trying to break up the most important thing that was left in Rachel's life.

"I got ya back Rach, no worries. If he acts up again I'll have Santana smack him up a bit. She can go all 'Lima-Heights on his ass' or whatever" Noah joked pulling Rachel out of her thoughts.

Rachel laughed and shot Noah a genuine smile before it turned into a smirk.

"I'm surprised Santana hasn't pulled a Houdini and showed up to smack us for 'talking shit' like usual" Rachel said while laughing once more. As Noah handed the already lit joint to her, a voice on their handhelds made them smile so wide it hurt.

"You guys talking shit up there?" Santana's voice came through soft but with an amused touch to it.

The two teens laughed and looked down to the street where they found Santana grabbing a blanket from Noah's truck that was parked in front of the garage with her head slightly turned in their direction.

"You're a fucking ninja, Lopez" Noah replied through the handheld trying to stop himself from laughing.

"Now you notice?" Santana asked. "Let me bring this blanket in for Britt and I'll be right up to join you fuckheads."

Rachel shook her head and laughed at her best friend before grabbing her own handheld from the floor beside her.

"Hey have her sleep with Quinn in Kurt's car. I promised Q some company but obviously it's gonna be a while."

"You got it Shorty."

When Santana joined the duo on the roof minutes later she came with arms full. Dropping the pillows next to Rachel, she handed her a folded note from Artie.

"Couldn't sleep?" Rachel asked as she grabbed a pillow and placed it behind her, giving her back some support. She then grabbed the note from Santana's hand and began to open it.

"Na I slept in the car so I'm not too tired" she replied.

Rachel nodded and continued to read the note from Artie. It stated that their next stop would be Flagstaff, Arizona. The words '_9 hours_' were scribbled above their destination. She sighed in relief realizing she wouldn't have to drive another 12 hours tonight. California was written at the bottom of the notebook paper with an arrow pointing to the words '_2 days_'. They were almost there and Rachel would be lying if she said she wasn't worried. Mercedes hadn't been able to contact her brother which led to Rachel thinking the worse.

"Everything good Rach?" Noah asked while passing the still burning joint to Santana.

Rachel looked back down at the note as if it was holding the answer to all of their problems.

"Y-Yeah… We're heading to Arizona tonight. It's another long drive. About 9 hours give or take a few minutes. Sorry guys."

Santana shrugged while blowing smoke above their heads. She passed the joint to Rachel before lying down with her head on Rachel's lap. Under her head was one of the pillows she had brought from downstairs.

"It's fine. It'd just be nice to know what we were driving _to_ rather than just driving." She gave Rachel a pointed look as she said this hoping to get something out of her best friend.

"We're heading to Los Angeles. You know this Santana."

"Yeah but what is it in Los Angeles that has us racing against the clock?" she fought back.

Rachel sighed and pulled Quinn's Cheerios jacket closer to her body as she allowed her head to rest on the generator behind her. She wanted nothing more than to spill everything to her two best friends. She wanted them to know that they were trying to save Mercedes' brother from whatever hell he had to deal with. She wanted them to know that she was worried he wouldn't be ok when they got there. She just wanted them to _know_.

"Well it's more like Willowbrook. But we have to get to LA to get there" she admitted.

At the mention of Willowbrook, Noah's ears perked up.

"Willowbrook? Doesn't Mercedes have like…" Noah trailed off. "Oh… oh… holy fucking shit."

Rachel looked at Noah a bit startled while Santana just looked confused.

"What do you know Puckerman?" she asked with a hint of her old bitchy tone intact.

Noah looked at Rachel with furrowed eyebrows as the wheels in his head began to turn. He remembered hearing Mercedes talk about her relatives in California back when they were still in school. He suddenly felt really stupid for not being able to put 2 and 2 together. Rachel on the other hand looked worried. Mercedes really didn't want anyone to know their reason for going to California so the only ones that did know were herself and Artie. She was afraid they would get there and her brother would be one of those _things_. And if he was, then what? Then she'd have to deal with everyone saying they were so sorry for her loss when really it wouldn't be fair. They had all suffered a loss on Z-Day.

"Who was it Rachel?"

Rachel jumped a bit at the harshness of Noah's voice. She was so used to hearing the soft caring side of him that only made an appearance when she was around. She opened her mouth to reply but of course, no words escaped her.

"Who was it?" Noah asked a bit softer. "Who called her when we were at the hospital the other day? Someone from her family must have called her. That is the only thing that would explain us going to California. It's the only thing that would explain why she looked like she had been crying last night."

Rachel suddenly straightened up at the mention of last night. She remembered watching Noah help Mercedes change the batteries of her car when they were stopped. Completely ignoring his question, Rachel beamed up at Noah.

"Speaking of last night _Noah_, I saw you helping Mercedes." Rachel spoke in a suggestive tone. "Why didn't you tell me you had a thing for her?"

"Whoa hold the phone!" Santana said as she sat upright. "You and Aretha?"

"What? No it's not even… wait Sam helped you with your car Rach! When did _that_ happen?" Noah mocked defensively.

Santana laughed as she lay back down with her head on Rachel's lap. She smiled when she realized Rachel was laughing also.

"So obvious" she murmured.

"Noah, did you forget that I'm gay? As in gayer than a unicorn shitting rainbows in a field of skittles?" she deadpanned as she began running her hands through Santana's hair. This elicited a laugh from the Latina that could've been heard from down the street. Rachel quickly clamped a hand over her best friend's mouth not wanting to draw any nearby zombie's attention.

"Whatever" he mumbled towards the girls. "There's nothing going on between us. Now stop side stepping my question and tell me who the fuck called Mercedes."

Rachel sighed; the previous humor suddenly pulled out from beneath them, and looked at her watch. **7:13AM.** Great… just great.

Today was going to be a long day.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Quick question for you guys. If you could choose, what pair would it be? Puck and Mercedes or Sam and Mercedes? Let me know in the reviews! Also, I hope everyone understands that once I get them to California, it isn't the end. I have a few ideas for when they get there ;) Anyways, hope you guys enjoyed the update :)<strong>


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: I am so sorry for making you guys wait so long for an update. I've been so busy doing absolutely nothing with my best friend the past couple of weeks, I just haven't been home. Hopefully the length of this chapter can make up for some of that. Enjoy! :)**

* * *

><p><strong>12:35PM<strong>

"Babe… wake up"

"Mmphh"

"Love of my life please wake up."

Santana and Noah bit back a laugh as they watched Rachel try to wake Quinn. The blonde was laying on top of Brittany in the back seat of Kurt's car and Santana swore she'd have killed Quinn for being "all up on my woman" if the sight of the two Cheerios cuddling wasn't so adorable. The trio had decided to head into town to kill some energy after spending too many emotion-filled hours up on the roof top of the garage they were in. But of course, Rachel couldn't leave without telling her girlfriend where she was headed. And although Santana wouldn't admit it, she was grateful for the opportunity to let Brittany in on the plans also. It wasn't a smart idea to head into a town filled with zombies but the itch of wanting to get out became unbearable for the group of best friends.

"Ugh move over and watch how it's done Shorty."

Santana moved to crouch down to eye level with the sleeping blondes and brought her mouth up to Quinn's ear. She smirked at Rachel who undoubtedly was worried of her actions before turning back to Quinn.

"Holy shit Q get up! Berry's in trouble!"

At the sound of the faux-worried voice of her friend, Quinn jumped up and out of the car, effectively making Santana fall back on her ass and aimed her pistol at the group of teens through half closed eyes. Where she pulled the pistol from, they had no idea. Noah could barely control his laughter, Rachel looked slightly worried and pissed that the Latina would joke about a situation like that, and Santana stood up grinning while holding her arms up in defense. Her grin was quickly replaced with a look of guilt as she realized Brittany had woken up also, bed head still intact, and was at Quinn's side in a heartbeat.

"What the fuck Lopez?" Quinn growled out at her friend. She wiped the sleep from her eyes and lowered her gun filled hand to her fast beating heart. Brittany, still half asleep, was sporting a frown on her face.

"San that was really mean…" she trailed off trying to stop the tears from falling. It was a known fact that Brittany was emotional when woken up startled. Another wave of guilt washed over Santana as she stepped towards her girlfriend and wrapped her arms around her.

"Shit B I'm really sorry" she mumbled into her girl's shoulder.

"Serves you right" she heard Rachel mumble from somewhere behind her. Noah, not wanting to feel like he was intruding, turned to Rachel and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"I'll go grab some food and supplies and wait for you guys by the door."

Rachel nodded and turned back to her girlfriend. She couldn't stop the smile that crept onto her face as she stared at a dazed Quinn in sweats and a tank top.

"Where are you guys going?" she asked in a soft voice as she tried to shake the sleep from her body. Rachel jumped onto the trunk of the car and beckoned Quinn over to stand in between her legs. When the blonde was within reaching distance, she pulled her in by her shirt and slowly brought their lips together. Rachel sighed in content and swept her tongue across her girlfriend's bottom lip, causing her to pull back but stay in reach of Rachel's arms.

"Morning breath" she whispered at the sight of Rachel's pout.

Rachel reluctantly nodded and pulled her girlfriend impossibly close to her. She dropped her head on her shoulder and just _breathed_. Right there, in that perfect position, Rachel almost felt the world around them felt the ache in her heart that had been with her for the past 3 weeks vanish into a darkness that couldn't be explained. Her now lighter heart brought them back to Lima, to a baby blue painted room, to the place where they shared their first kiss. _Almost_.

"Raspberry?"

"Yes beautiful?"

Quinn literally felt herself swoon and wrapped her arms tighter around Rachel.

"Where are you guys going?"

"On an adventure" Rachel replied while smiling shyly at the blonde. "We're gonna go into town and see what we can find. I just wanted you to know before we left."

"Hmm"

Quinn pressed her lips in a tight line and shot a curious look to the brunette in front of her. Rachel was confused but sported an amused smile anyways.

"What?" she asked her girlfriend.

Repeating the same look from earlier, Quinn hummed another "Hmmm" towards her girlfriend making sure it lasted just a bit longer than the one before.

"What Q?" Rachel asked with a small laugh.

Once more Quinn hummed another "Hmmmm" to her girlfriend making sure it lasted longer than the first two.

"Babeee" Rachel whined while giving Quinn her infamous pout.

Quinn couldn't help but laugh at the adorable look on Rachel's face.

"Ok." Quinn said as she placed a quick kiss to her girlfriend's lips. "But I'm coming too."

Rachel watched the blonde skip away towards the sink in the back of the garage to brush her teeth. She couldn't seem to wipe the goofy love-struck grin off her face as she watched Quinn go. _Maybe_, Rachel thought to herself. Maybe, with Quinn by her side of course, Rachel could stay sane during all the madness the world had to offer as of lately. Maybe they really could beat the odds and survive this zombie invasion_. Maybe… just maybe_.

* * *

><p><strong>1:24PM<strong>

"Switch to channel 5 guys. Let's not wake the group up at the garage."

Somehow the group of 3 turned into a group of 5 by the time Rachel, Noah, and Santana had left the garage. Now as they slowly drove through the semi-abandoned streets of Cloves, New Mexico the group of friends were accompanied by Brittany and Quinn. Rachel and Brittany were standing on the bed of Noah's truck, being deemed too 'hyper' to ride up front with the other three.

"Who gave Rachel another red bull?" mumbled Quinn from the passenger seat of Noah's truck as she switched her handheld to the appointed channel. Behind her, she heard a shot fire off followed by Brittany and Rachel hi-fiving and Brittany yelling "20 points for taking down the granny with a walker Rach!" She shook her head and sighed, allowing her head to fall back against the headrest of her seat.

Noah smirked as he quickly glanced up at the rear view mirror just catching Brittany give Rachel another hi-five. Directing his eyes back at the road, he bit his lip while trying to hide his smile. Feeling eyes on him, he looked once more and saw Santana sporting a knowing smirk from the backseat. She imitated the act of zipping her lips shut and throwing the key away in his direction, and he sighed in relief when she leaned her head against the headrest behind her and closed her eyes. Quinn did _not_ need to know that he had packed a few red bulls in a duffle bag full of ammo and snacks that he had left with the girls in the back. Because seriously… it didn't get any better than Rachel freaking Berry hyped up on red bull. She was like a kid in a candy store and he wouldn't have it any other way right now.

"Puck can you stop driving like that granny Rachel just took out and step on it?" Brittany asked into the handheld radio belonging to her. The mohawk sporting teen had been driving at a steady speed of 20mph since they had left the garage. It had allowed Rachel and Brittany to stand while shooting at the zombies but it had also allowed a group of 'runners', as Rachel had named them, to follow the teens quite closely. Noah looked down the street behind them through the side mirror on his door and cursed at the group of zombies that had formed.

"Santana wake the fuck up."

Noah shifted between staring through his rearview mirror waiting for the Latina to wake up and staring out at the road as he kept driving at the same speed as before. How the hell the Latina had fallen asleep in the last 3 minutes was beyond him. Chancing a side glance at Quinn, he realized she was also asleep.

"Lopez!" Noah screamed as his right hand reached behind him to smack the girl in the leg. Santana awoke with a jolt and stared angrily at the reflection of Noah's face in the rearview mirror. Ignoring her glare he lightly shook Quinn's shoulder in an attempt to wake her while keeping his gaze on the road.

"Noah please speed up."

Noah's attention snapped back to his side mirror at the sound of Rachel's worried voice. He groaned in frustration as he realized that the group of runners had easily doubled in number and where now at about 60 from what he could see. Thankfully Santana and Quinn had woken up and had also focused on the group of zombies behind them.

"Puck what do we do?" Quinn asked as she looked through the side mirror on her door.

"Rachel," he called out through his handheld to his best friend. "Grab the gun tripods from Santana. Britt there's a few rifles at the bottom of the red duffle bag. Grab one for you and Rach."

Santana opened the back window that led to the bed of the truck and handed Rachel two gun tripods as Noah had instructed. Glancing down at her own riffle that laid on the seat with her, Santana decided to join the two teens. She picked up the riffle and handed it to Rachel before pulling herself through the window that led to the bed of the truck.

"Set those rifles up against the end of the bed" Noah instructed once more as he continued to drive. "Whatever you do, don't stand up. Just shoot as many as you can."

"Try to save ammo. Remember, a bullet to the brain is all you need" Quinn added as she watched the trio on the bed of the truck. Santana had taken to kneel by the now closed window with her rifle raised and pressed against her shoulder. Much to Quinn's surprise, Rachel and Brittany had their own rifles mounted on the gun tripods and soon enough the three were firing away as Noah took off down the road.

* * *

><p><strong>2:15PM<strong> **–Garage**

Mercedes ran into the small office of the garage they were currently occupying with her phone pressed tightly to her ear. Her hands shook and her mouth went dry as she listened to the voice on the other end. Artie, having been the first of the remaining eight teens to wake up, looked up from the map in front of him to see the shock in his friend's eyes. When the tears began to pool in her eyes, Artie wheeled himself forward so they were just a few inches apart.

"'Cedes? What's going on? Talk to me" he begged the girl in front of him.

He watched as she opened and closed her mouths a few times, obviously trying to say the right words but always coming up short. When she finally gave up on forming proper thoughts, Mercedes shoved her smart phone into Artie's hand with pleading eyes. He looked down at the lit up screen, eyes widening in surprise as he brought the phone to his ear.

"Uh.. Damian?"

"Artie? Oh thank God!"

* * *

><p><strong>2:29PM –Gun Shop<strong>

"Noah, you need a fucking mattress for the back of your truck" Rachel stated as she rubbed her right knee.

"Seriously, I've spent some time on my knees but fuck _that_. Remind me to thank you when my knee is sore for a week Puckerman."

Noah shook his head and laughed lightly at his two best friends as they all exited the truck. The group of 5 had driven around for about an hour trying to eliminate the group of zombies that had started to follow them. As bodies dropped, more joined the pack causing the group to use more ammo than they had intended to. So now, the group of teens found themselves walking into a gun shop looking for ammo and guns that were automatic.

"Yeah I mean isn't it called the bed of your truck Puck? It's not a very comfy bed" Brittany said with a shrug of her shoulders as they neared the entrance of a gun shop. Noah laughed whole-heartedly and threw an arm over Brittany's shoulder as he pushed open the glass door.

"You are absolutely correct my blonde goddess. Tell ya-"

"Don't make me kill you Puckerman."

"-what. You help me find a badass gun, and we'll get something for my truck once we're outta here. Sound good?"

Brittany nodded her head enthusiastically and rushed to the back wall of the store while pulling him along with her. They searched through rows of guns, skipping the ones they already owned and picking up all sorts of automatic guns. Santana, Quinn, and Rachel found themselves searching every cabinet and storage space for ammunition that would fit everyone's guns. In less than an hour, the group had collected 3 duffle bags worth of supplies. Looking around the now emptier store, Noah grabbed a duffle bag and motioned for Santana and Rachel to do the same. They headed out of the gun store and loaded up the truck before they all climbed in. Santana sat behind Noah in the backseat of the truck with Brittany to her right and Rachel behind Quinn who was in the passenger seat.

"So where to now babes?"

* * *

><p><strong>2:47PM –Garage<strong>

"Ok so how's the place you're at now?"

For the past half an hour Artie had stayed on the phone with Mercedes' brother. He was, for now, safe in a house he had found a few blocks away from his uncle's house.

"It's good. There's a fence surrounding it so I mean I kind of feel safe. It's pretty big too" Damian explained. "There's a barn in the back. No horses though. Everything in there is solar powered. I might stay there until you guys get here. This house is too big for just me."

Artie nodded although the voice on the other end of the phone couldn't see him do so. His eyes wandered beyond the glass walls of the office he sat in and landed on his group of friends. It was decided everyone deserved to know about the phone calls from Damian so Mercedes was currently filling everyone in over breakfast. Artie stared down at his own plate of pancakes and he wondered what the hell they did to ever deserve this fate.

"Hey… is Mercedes in the room with you or are you alone?"

Artie's attention snapped back to the younger boy on the phone.

"No it's just me. What's up?" he questioned.

"I don't want to worry Mercedes ya know?" Damian asked in return. Artie nodded once more even though he couldn't be seen and wheeled himself to the door to close it.

"I barely have enough food to last me a few days. Maybe 3-4 if I try to really stretch it. I'm doing ok but I mean… I just… I need you guys to get here."

The fear in the 15 year olds voice was as clear as day to Artie. He reassured him that they would be there soon and made sure to get a promised phone call later that night so the group could know if he was ok. As the phone call disconnected, Artie reached over and grabbed his handheld radio off of the desk in front of him. For the umpteenth time that morning, he tried to reach the group of 5 that was off wandering through the zombie infested city.

* * *

><p><strong>3:23PM –IKEA<strong>

Noah walked down the aisle carefully with his new weapon, a silver Uzi, held tightly in his hand. Rachel was at the other end of the store, both making sure it was clear. While they were being cautious, the three cheerios were aimlessly walking around looking for things to take with them.

"Puck, can we get a water bed?"

"I think it'll break B. Maybe when we get to California, ok?"

Noah and Rachel stopped walking when they heard the Latina's reply to Brittany's question. They shared knowing glances from the aisles they were each in and shook their heads as smiles crept on to their faces. They continued to scan the large store, satisfied when they realized they were alone. Passing Santana and Quinn in the kitchen department, they made their way towards Brittany. The blonde was scanning through different bedroom sets, losing herself in the multiple rows of beds.

"Puck, can we get the one with the leprechaun people in it?" Brittany asked through her handheld.

The excitement in her voice caused Noah and Rachel to stop in their tracks. They bolted in the direction of the blonde, calling out to her.

"Hi, I'm Brittany."

"Britt no!"

Rachel heard the sounds of metal hitting the floor as she raced towards the blonde girl. As she reached to where she was, Santana sped past her and pulled Brittany back by the elbow. Noah wedged his way in front of her as he raised his weapon to the two bodies lying in the bed in front of them. The two teenagers who Rachel thought could be no older than 17, raised their hands in defense at the group in front of them.

"Names" Santana demanded as her expression turned cold.

When the teens stayed quiet, Quinn decided to step in next to her.

"Did she stutter or did your tiny brains just skip? Answer her!"

Brittany pouted from her spot behind Noah and Santana. Rachel who was now standing to her left, mirrored the expression as they watched their girlfriends turn into the scary head cheerios they once were.

"I'm Sugar" the short girl said after swallowing down her fear. "This is my best friend, Rory."

"Sugar?" Brittany asked with a smile on her face. "I love sugar. Except my girlfriend doesn't let me eat a lot of it cause then I get really hyper and it annoys people. Well besides her. She loves me too much to get annoyed with me. Right San?"

Sugar and Rory relaxed at the kindness in Brittany's voice. Rory's eyebrows shot up as he watched the Latina lean over and give Brittany a quick peck on the lips.

"Problem Lucky Charms?" Quinn asked as she stepped closer to the bed. Rachel pulled her back and wrapped her arms around Quinn's waist while shooting the boy a questioning look.

"No! Uh… no problem. I swear."

Sugar stood up from the bed and looked to Rachel with pleading eyes. Rachel pulled away from Quinn and moved to face Sugar and Rory waiting for either one to say something.

"We don't want any trouble" Sugar stated. "We'll be out of your way in a few minutes. Rory lets go."

Noah, Santana, and Quinn stepped aside to allow Sugar and Rory room to leave. Brittany looked on in remorse and turned to Rachel with begging eyes. Rachel sighed and turned away, not having the heart to disappoint Brittany.

"Wait…"

* * *

><p><strong>4:04PM –Garage<strong>

Noah, Santana, and Quinn all walked in to the garage with skeptical looks. Soon after, Rachel and Brittany walked in with their arms intertwined followed by a nervous Rory and Sugar. They headed towards their group of friends who were sitting in the middle of the garage on a makeshift table.

"Listen up bitches."

"Noah..." Rachel warned. She turned to her friends and giggled at their shocked expressions. "Guys, this is Rory and Sugar. They'll be joining us from now on so make 'em feel welcomed."

Rachel let the teens introduced themselves and made her way over to Quinn who was sitting next to Artie. She stood behind her girlfriend, not wanting to interrupt her and Artie's conversation but also wanting to be close to the girl. After a few moments, she smiled when Quinn reached behind her and pulled her onto her lap without breaking eye contact with Artie. She wrapped her arms around Quinn's neck and snuggled in to her girlfriend's body.

"Rachel! Just the girl I wanted to see" said Artie. "Can we talk?"

Rachel nodded in agreement and turned to look at Quinn.

"Think you can go make nice with Rory and Sugar?"

Quinn mumbled out a response, causing Rachel to smirk, before she lifted the girl off her lap and walked away. Rachel wheeled Artie to the office before stepping inside and sitting on the computer chair by the wall.

"Where were you guys today?" Artie asked as he closed the door behind him. "I tried to radio you guys in like 20 times."

Rachel cringed and looked down at her hands, hoping that guilt wouldn't be written all over her face. "We didn't want to wake you guys up, so we switched channels on the handhelds." She couldn't understand why it was they had forgotten to switch back to their regular channel when it was a more appropriate time.

"Rachel" Artie said with a sigh "Mercedes' brother called today."

At that, Rachel's head snapped up and she met his gaze. Artie knew the girl had a million questions playing at the tip of her tongue so he answered them before she had the chance to ask.

"He's ok" he began. "But he's running low on supplies." Artie sighed and rubbed his temples. "He's so scared Rachel."

"Ok" Rachel said with determination in her voice. "We'll get to Flagstaff and just rest up a little and then head out to find him. Don't worry about it Artie. We'll get to him in time."

"What if we don't?" Artie fought back.

Rachel shook her head from side to side in disagreement.

"We will. We have to."

* * *

><p><strong>5:21PM –Garage<strong>

Noah stood against the car entry door of the garage watching his friends interact with the new additions to their group. Rory, the new Irish teen who Brittany swore was a leprechaun, walked away from the guys and headed towards the bus where Rachel, Quinn, Santana, and Brittany were located. For a quick second Noah thought of the possibility that Rory may be gay but quickly dismissed the thought_. "A bus full of lesbians, yeah he's straight as an arrow_" Noah thought to himself. Mercedes and Tina were standing next to Sugar, showing her how to use the handheld radios the group had acquired just a few days ago. His smile grew at the sight of Mercedes, and he pushed himself off of the door, heading straight for the bus filled with his best friends.

"I was here as a transfer student."

Noah stopped to lean against the driver's seat of the bus as he heard Rory's thick accent fill the bus. The usual group of 4 was sitting in the seats located at the middle of the bus with Rory lying on a blanket on the floor in between them.

"I'm from Ireland. I was supposed to be here for my junior year of high school and then go home but then all of _this_ happened. The day that it happened, I called my parents and told them everything. They didn't believe me at first. And then later that day I get a call from my mom, who by the way was completely hysterical, and she told me everything she knew. I guess word spread to different countries and they were airing it on the news. I guess the military doesn't know what to do because they don't know how many people are still alive."

"So we're basically fucked?" was Santana's dry reply.

Rory laughed off her tone and shook his head.

"They're working on it. They know Sugar and I are alive and that's enough to get me through the night. I know my mom is fighting for us. And when she calls me tonight at 10 like every other night, I'll tell her about you guys. And then she'll fight for you too."

Noah smirked as he heard the collective round of 'awwws' come from every girl besides Santana. Still, she leaned against Brittany with a small smile on her face.

"_Oh he's good_" thought Noah with his smirk still intact. When he locked eyes with Rory he shook his head and offered the boy a knowing smile. A blush rose to the cheeks of the new boy causing Noah to laugh a bit louder than necessary. At the sound of his laugh, Rachel's eyes darted to his direction and she immediately knew he wanted to talk. Gesturing to the now empty office of the garage, he turned on his heel and exited the bus. Excusing herself from her friends, Rachel grabbed her girlfriend's cheerleading jacket and tossed it on as she made her way out of the bus. She looked around the garage before spotting her best friend sitting on a chair in the office fidgeting with the pens on the desk in front of him. Frowning slightly, Rachel made her way towards the office and leaned against the door watching Noah stand and pull her in before locking the door.

"What's wrong?" were the first words to escape her lips as she sat in the chair previously occupied by Noah.

Noah pressed his back into the door Rachel was just leaning on and let his eyes look out past the glass walls of the office they were standing in. As usual, his gaze landed on Mercedes who was setting up a bed in the back seat of her car.

"I like her" was all he said as his eyes landed back on Rachel. She nodded her head at him although her eyebrows scrunched up in confusion.

"And that's bad because…?"

"It's not" Noah said as he sat on the desk next to Rachel. "I just don't do this normally you know? I'm not used to feeling shit for people even though I've liked her since like sophomore year."

Noah let out a humorless laugh and shook his head at himself. "Pathetic huh? Badass Puckerman tripping over his own feet for a chick."

Rachel was about to retaliate when a knock on the door interrupted their conversation. They both turned their heads to find a smiling Santana standing at the door with 3 bowls of chicken noodle soup resting on a tray. Noah opened the door to usher her in and then proceeded to lock it once more.

"What's up?" Santana asked as she jumped up to sit on the table, a bowl of soup already in her hand.

"Noah likes Mercedes" Rachel said with a shrug of her shoulders. She reached over and grabbed her own bowl of soup before handing one to Noah and then propping her feet up on the side of the desk next to her.

"Rach! What the fuck? Break the lesbro code why don't you" Noah said with a pointed glare.

"Noah" Rachel deadpanned "it's only Santana. Calm your tits."

Santana laughed as she watched her two best friends argue. If she was to be honest, she'd admit that she already knew this piece of information about Noah. It wasn't very hard to catch onto his feelings when any chance the boy got, his eyes would be fixated on Mercedes. Thinking this over, Santana began to wonder if Mercedes had any idea about this.

"So when are you gonna tell her?" Santana asked in an attempt to stop the argument still happening.

"He's not."

"Once we find her brother."

Santana stared at the both of them with wide eyes. Her plan to stop the arguing had obviously backfired on her. She watched as Noah backed away from Rachel to stand closer to her instead. She bit back a smile because it was actually quiet cute how this badass former football player always sought out comfort from one of his best friends.

"I'm telling her when we get to California. I can't now. It'll just be too much, ya know?" Noah rhetorically asked the two girls.

"Noah you can't tell her" Rachel answered as she placed down her bowl of soup. Appetite completely forgotten, she stood up from her seat and took a step towards him. "This shit can easily blow up in both of your faces and it'll get awkward. We're all we have left. You won't be able to just walk away if something happens."

"Shorty…" Santana warned as she saw the look on Noah's face. She knew the smaller girl had a point but she was trudging in dangerous waters.

"What if you guys get together and it ends? Then what? Then we're all screwed because like I said, you _can't_ walk away Noah."

"I won't wanna walk away Rach!" Noah blew up at her. He bit back the three words he was dying to confess to anyone who would listen. "I won't walk away because-" _He loved her._ "I _get _that we're all we got left. I get it okay? But this is fucking bullshit. You're with Q! You don't see me telling you to break up with her."

Rachel sighed defeated and looked down at the ground obviously fed up with their arguing. She never was one to feed off of situations like this, especially when they involved her best friend. Unspoken thoughts tried to force themselves past her lips but Rachel just brushed past him and headed for the door.

"That's completely different" she whispered back to him before stepping out of the office and closing the door gently.

Santana turned her attention away from the door Rachel just left through and looked at Noah with an apologetic smile. She watched the way his chest rose harshly at the intakes of air he was putting himself through and just waited for the other shoe to drop.

In a matter of seconds Noah spun around and brought his foot up affectively kicking the office chair that Rachel had been sitting in not even a minute prior. The chair zoomed across the small office space and bounced against the wall just to roll back across the floor and stop in front of Santana. She eyed it carefully before pushing it back to him and watched as he repeated his previous actions.

"Do you remember what you did sophomore year when Rachel told you that she and Quinn were gonna go on a date?" Santana asked as she watched Noah raise his foot to kick the chair once more. He halted his movements and turned to her with an icy expression.

"Why does it have to go back to them _again_?" he shouted

Santana sighed and ran a hand through her hair.

"Puck sit your ass down and answer me because I really don't have to be fucking doing this. I can go be with _my_ girlfriend instead of helping your sorry ass. So stop bitching like a little girl and answer me."

"I don't _know_ Santana. I went to Quinn and told her not to fuck with Rachel" he answered as he threw himself down in the abused chair.

"Why?" she pressed on.

"Cause I wasn't gonna have her break my Jews heart. It was obvious Rachel was fucking in love with the girl. What the fuck does this have to do with me?"

"_Ay Dios mio_… THINK PUCKERMAN!" Santana hopped off the desk and stood in front of him with her hands on her hips. "You wanted to make sure she wouldn't get _hurt_ because you and I both knew that she was _in love_ with Quinn!"

Noah stared at the girl in front of him as everything began to suddenly click in his head.

"So…" he slowly began not wanting to upset the Latina anymore. "She doesn't want… Uh… All that shit she said was what then? A lie so she didn't have to call me out?"

"No. She meant that shit. But she also knows that if that really did happen, we'd all be able to move passed that. It's just easier to use that as an excuse."Santana dropped the anger she still felt and leaned against the desk. "Think about it Puck. I love Britt-Britt and we all know Shorty loves Q. But everyday that we go out there we put them over ourselves. Always making sure they're safe before we are. She's trying to protect you from _all_ of that. Whether you and Aretha get together and then break-up or some zombie ass motherfucker tries to have her for dinner, she just wants to protect you. If you were to get your heart broken, we could overcome that with time. But if you lost her completely, we wouldn't be able to go through that. _You_ wouldn't be able to go through that."

Noah nodded slowly suddenly feeling at a loss for words.

* * *

><p><strong>11:37PM –Garage<strong>

Noah leaned against the driver's door of Santana's car after a long eventful day. The group of now 15 was getting ready to head to their next stop in Flagstaff, AZ. From his position he could see Mercedes talking to the new girl Sugar and he couldn't help but smile at her kindness.

"Yo Puck"

Noah turned around and came face to face with his blonde best friend.

"Got your eye on Sugar huh?" Sam asked with a smirk on his face.

"Close but no cigar" Noah mumbled as he scratched his chin.

"You suck at lying. Well I need to talk to Mercedes so how about you go talk to her anyways?" Sam asked with a smile.

"Bro" Noah firmly stated to Sam. "I don't like Sugar and I'm definitely not fucking playing wingman. Back off and leave Mercedes the fuck alone."

Sam didn't allow the firmness in his best friend's voice to make him back down and still had a smile on his face.

"Ok."

He patted Noah's back and took off in the direction of the school bus. Pinching the bridge of his nose, Noah turned on his heel in search of his Jew. He saw her sitting on the hood of Kurt's car with her arms wrapped tightly against Quinn as the later stood in between her legs. Pushing aside their disagreement from earlier, he forced himself over to the two girls in a painfully slow pace. When he finally reached Kurt's car, he looked up from the ground and found a smiling Rachel standing by the driver's door alone.

"I'm sorry."

The statement rung through the silence that surrounded them and Noah would be lying if he said he wasn't surprised. He thought he was the one that needed to apologize even though he didn't really know what to say sorry for. Grateful for the apology and the breakthrough of the tension, he wrapped his arms around the smaller girl and exhaled slowly.

"Noah?" Rachel pulled away and looked at her best friend with a worried expression. "What's wrong now?"

When Noah didn't answer, she turned around in his arms and saw Mercedes and Sam standing by the door of the garage laughing. Not understand what he saw, she turned her head up to look at him, a question already threatening to spill from her lips.

"Do you think Sam likes Mercedes?" he asked her without taking his eyes off the duo.

Rachel turned her head to examine Sam and Mercedes once more. She watched the way they spoke openly to one another. The way they were comfortable around each other and the friendly smiles shared between them.

"I think" Rachel spoke while still staring at the two, "that you are kind of obvious about your feelings to the people closest to you. So you shouldn't worry about it. He probably knows but doesn't want to say anything."

"He asked me if I liked Sugar" Noah stated after a moment of silence had passed between the two.

"Must be the lemon juice getting to his head" Rachel mumbled in response.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Opinions in the reviews? Please &amp; thank you! :)<strong>


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: This is what happens when I stop writing for 3 months and then drunkenly decide to start writing at 4 in the morning. Don't hate me.**

* * *

><p>Ear muffs.<p>

That's what Rachel was experiencing as her vision slowly started to come back to her. Everything seemed so loud yet so dull and soft. She could hear her friends screaming out, she really could. But she wasn't able to understand a word they were saying.

It was like wearing ear muffs.

Her head slightly swayed back and forth as she fought to regain consciousness and tried to understand where she was exactly. A sharp pain shot through the left side of her head and she slowly reached her arm up, wincing when she felt the still bleeding cut. Rachel saw her vision begin to blur again, not noticing how her body slumped backwards and hit the wall behind her. She barely heard the dull sound of Mercedes' brother screaming out to her to 'stay with them' as the world around her turned to black once again.

* * *

><p>"<em>First floor cleared" Rachel spoke into her handheld. She readjusted it to lie back on the shoulder pad of her police vest before placing her gun down on the living room table. <em>

"_Second floor is clear" Noah replied as he made his way up to the third floor. Two minutes later Rachel was able to let out a breath she didn't know she was holding as Quinn and Santana's voices cut through the silence in the room. _

"_Third floor cleared."_

_Rachel walked towards the front door of the house they had stumbled upon and yanked it open as she grabbed her handheld from its spot on her shoulder._

"_The house is clear guys, come on in."_

_She stepped onto the porch that stretched out around the house and brought her hand up to her face to shield the early morning sun. Blindly reaching for her sunglasses, she frowned when she realized they weren't hooked to the front of her muscle shirt._

"_Looking for these?" Quinn asked as she walked out onto the porch, side stepping Kurt as he walked into the house with a bag of clothes. She didn't allow Rachel to fully turn around, opting to wrap her arms around her girlfriend and placing the aviators where they belonged. A soft chuckle escaped her lips when Rachel quickly grabbed them and put them on._

"_I swear you love those things more than me" Quinn joked as she pressed a light kiss to the back of Rachel's head. She felt the air leave her lungs when Rachel quickly spun on her heel and pressed her lips against her own. Her chest burned with a need for oxygen but she didn't allow herself to give in to the pain and instead focused on Rachel kissing her. Cool air swept across her lips and she opened her eyes to see Rachel staring back at her with an unreadable expression._

"_I will never love anything or anyone as much as I love you."_

* * *

><p>Noah fired bullets into the seemingly never ending sea of zombies as he desperately tried to seek out his friends. He shot off another head before whipping his own head to the left, spotting Santana standing behind a teller's booth. He watched as she readjusted her gun and began to fire away at the front door of the bank. He snapped back to attention when he heard his gun click, the sound of an empty clip bouncing off the stone walls of the bank.<p>

"Keep shooting!" He yelled out to Santana as he noticed the extra gun strapped around her shoulder. She tossed him a quick glance and nodded to let him know she heard him. As knees bent, adrenaline shot into strong hands causing them to shake as they reached down to unzip an overstuffed duffle bag full of ammo, and Noah asked himself why the hell things had to be the way they were.

* * *

><p>"<em>We're leaving tonight guys, so rest up. It's just under 8 hours to Los Angeles so we're only stopping for gas refills. We'll eat on the way there or something" Rachel instructed to her group of friends. She began to pick up the plates from their late breakfast that were scattered around the room as everyone began to head upstairs in search of a bedroom. As she moved around the room she noticed Mercedes' still sitting on the couch staring blankly at the floor. Before she was able to say anything though, Quinn's soft voice graced her ears.<em>

"_Baby?"_

_Rachel placed the plates on the coffee table next to her and walked to her girlfriend who was standing at the bottom of the stairs. Quinn grabbed the brunette's hand and tugged her towards the second floor silently asking her to join her in bed. _

"_Give me a second" Rachel said while cocking her head back in the direction of Mercedes. Quinn simply nodded her head and leaned over the stair railing to place a gentle kiss on Rachel's lips. _

"_I love you" Rachel softly called out as Quinn ascended the stairs. She stopped at the top stair, turning around to face her girlfriend with a questioning gaze. "I love you too" she replied cautiously. "Are you ok Raspberry? Well… you know. As ok as you can be?" _

"_Yeah babe…" Rachel replied while nervously fixing the aviators hanging off her muscle shirt. "I'm fine."_

* * *

><p>Quinn paced back and forth in a small convenience store across the street from the bank that she saw her friends drag her unconscious girlfriend in to. Mercedes had hung old blankets that she found in the back of the store over the windows so that the undead wouldn't see movement and head their way. Just as Quinn reached for her handheld on the shoulder pad of her police vest, Blaine appeared next to her and stopped her hand.<p>

"I know you're freaking out. So am I, I mean… she's my _sister_" he choked out. Quinn squeezed his hand in support as her eyes took in his frightened face and moist eyes. "But they need to clear the area before they can answer us. Yelling at them via radio isn't going to help them concentrate."

Nodding in agreement, Quinn silently headed towards a covered window with Blaine's hand still in hers. She pulled back the blanket and tried, but quickly failed, to hold back a sob as she saw what must have been hundreds of zombies trying to fight their way in to the bank. She quickly sent off a prayer, hoping that somehow the big guy upstairs was listening to her. When they heard movement behind them, they quickly spun on their heel to see Brittany carrying a rather large milk crate filled with bottles and rags to a staircase that was tucked away in the back. She saw Blaine and Quinn staring at her with their teary eyes and questioning gazes, and smiled weakly at them.

"Those fuckers are getting in there over my dead body" she said with conviction.

* * *

><p>"<em>Mercedes? Are you ok?" Rachel asked as she sat on the couch facing the other girl. She watched as Mercedes continued to stare blankly at the coffee table, twirling her cell phone in her right hand. <em>

_Twirl. _

_Blink. _

_Twirl. _

_Blink._

_Sighing, she reached out and stopped Mercedes from twirling her phone again. It caused the darker girl to meet Rachel's eyes for the first time since they arrived at the house._

"_I promise you, we'll find him."_

* * *

><p>Brittany didn't hesitate to light one of the Molotov's she made in the store the second she stepped out onto the roof. She threw the first one at the large group of zombies outside of the bank and smiled in triumph when it landed smack dab in the middle. Quinn and Blaine were quick to join her, their anger and fear being directed at throwing the fire bombs at the undead. Sam, Mercedes, and Kurt all stood behind the trio watching the flames cover the street below them.<p>

Across the street in the bank, Noah jumped when he saw an explosion of fire out on the street in front of the bank. It caused the zombies that were crowded at the front doors to lose interest in the group that was in the bank, and soon enough Noah and Rory were able to close the doors to the bank but not before seeing a tall blonde waiving frantically at them from across the street, a Molotov in her hand.

"Santana?!" Puck called out as Rory and Finn pulled down the shades of the wall length windows. He saw Santana jump over a counter with both of her guns strapped around her shoulders and let out a sigh of relief before allowing a smirk to settle on his face.

"What is it Puckerman?"

"I need to marry Brit. She's a fucking genius."

* * *

><p>"<em>Take a left on the next street. It's the last house on the right" Mercedes instructed. She watched through the cracked screen of a laptop as Rachel and Noah pulled up to her uncle's house. They turned the truck off, and then Rachel's voice cut through the silence of the living room that everyone else was seated in.<em>

"_Camera off" they heard her say to Puck through the video feed. Just a few seconds later, the screen turned black and her voice was heard through every handheld radio in the house. _

"_We'll see you guys in a little bit."_

_Noah shielded his eyes from the morning sun as he carefully made his way towards the house they thought belonged to Mercedes' uncle. Making his way across the lawn, he motioned for Rachel to join him. They slowly walked down the side of the house, cautiously approaching the barn in the back that was supposed to be housing Mercedes' little brother._

* * *

><p>"Puck" Sam called out through his handheld as he watched the bank from across the street.<p>

"Go for Puck" Noah responded quickly.

"Body count. Everyone good?" the blonde asked. When Noah didn't reply, he stepped away from the small group he was with and asked again if everyone was ok.

"Yeah… we're all here. We're… ok."

"…but?"

"We're just waiting for Rachel. She's still out cold. Artie thinks she has a concussion but if we wait it out she'll be up soon. Just don't tell Quinn ok?"

Sam jumped as he heard Quinn's voice behind him.

"Don't tell Quinn what?" she asked as she placed her now powered on handheld on the shoulder pad of her police vest. She eyed Sam curiously and was about to question him again when Kurt appeared behind them and ushered them into the store.

"Brittany is a genius. Too bad we don't have an enormous bottle of Lysol to overpower the hideous stench of rotten flesh burning" Kurt stated.

* * *

><p>"<em>Don't move!" Noah barked out as he stood in the entryway of the barn behind the large house they pulled up to. He aimed his gun at the younger boy's head, waiting for Rachel who was a few steps behind him.<em>

"_I'm clean I swear. I wasn't bit or scratched or whatever from those things" Damian rushed out. _

_Rachel smiled apologetically at him from behind Noah's raised arm. She placed her hand on his bicep silently asking him to bring down his weapon. When he did, she stepped in to the barn and looked around. In the corner to the left was a makeshift bed and a book bag with a baseball sticking out from it._

"_Have you had to use that?" Rachel softly asked as Noah looked over his body making sure he was in fact untouched._

_Damian followed her line of vision and immediately closed his eyes as flashbacks started to cloud his train of thought. "A few times" he answered. "I was at boarding school most of them time. I don't know if Mercedes told you. But they kept us on lockdown there. We didn't know what was going on until it was too late. I had to use it a few times when I was trying to come back here."_

_Rachel nodded to let him know she heard him and turned around as she saw Noah checking his legs for any bite marks. When he cleared the younger boy, she grabbed her handheld from the shoulder pad it was on and called in to the group that was 3 blocks away._

"_Mercedes?"_

_The reply was instant._

"_I'm here. What's going on girl?"_

"_We found him. He's clean. We're on our way back now."_

_She turned back to Noah and Damian after placing her handheld back where it belonged. _

"_Let's take the solar panels with us. We may end up needing them."_

* * *

><p>Quinn brought the bandana that was hanging around her neck up to cover her nose and mouth. Kurt wasn't kidding when he said it smelled horrible outside. She was crouched down in an alley next to the convenience store they had just been in and was looking around the wall to the flames in the street. The flames had covered the main entrance to the bank which led to them having to find an alternate way of getting in.<p>

"Quinn..." Sam called out lowly as he tugged on her arm. When she turned to look at him, he pointed to another narrow alley way in between a flower shop and the bank. "There's gotta be an entrance to the bank in the back" he offered.

She nodded and looked down the street once again. The flames were still covering most of the street and if they moved quickly enough, they could go undetected to the other alley. Grabbing Sam's hand in her own, Quinn made sure everyone was joined at the hands before taking off in a low sprint across the street.

* * *

><p>"<em>We have to help them. I promised them I'd be back for them" Damian begged.<em>

_Rachel threw her hands up in frustration as the group sat in the school bus waiting for more instructions. Her heart was torn with the situation they were currently in. An hour ago, the group had reunited with Damian and ten minutes later, he told them about the little boy and girl who were hiding out in an old flower shop by themselves. _

"_I ran to the convenience store to see if I could get some food on my way to the ranch when I saw them. They wouldn't come with me no matter what I tried so I told them I'd be back for them. I don't know if they were with people or alone but they were alone in the store…"_

"_Show of hands. Who thinks we should go look for them?" Rachel asked as her own hand went into the air. Everyone looked around and one by one hands started to rise. "Ok then its settled. Let's go." Everyone got out of the bus and made sure to lock up their cars as they began the short walk to the outside of downtown LA. The group walked down a main street and headed straight for the flower shop that Damian pointed out. Sam pulled on Quinn's hand and nodded in the direction of the convenience store. Brittany, who's arm was looped through Quinn's, followed closely with Kurt and Mercedes on her trail as they made their way across the street._

"_We're checking the store" Sam spoke into his handheld. When they reached the doors and hadn't received a reply, he chanced a look behind causing his face to turn pale. The four that were with him turned also and froze when they saw their friends backing away from two zombiefied children no older than 9. The little boy grabbed onto Rachel's wrist and Quinn felt herself being held back as she failed to reach her girlfriend. She watched as Rachel stood frozen in place not knowing what to do. They all watched as Finn quickly pulled on Rachel's free arm too roughly, sending her flying back and head first into an old newspaper stand. They all missed Finn shooting the young zombies in the head. They missed the horde of undead that rounded the corner due to the gunshots that had been fired. They missed their chance to escape as the street quickly filled with zombies, effectively separating the friends into two groups. One group being chased into the bank, another being untouched as they entered the small store in front of them._

* * *

><p>Quinn rounded the corner of the large building and began pounding on the back door as she heard Kurt speak into the handheld radio that belonged to him. Looking to the left, she spotted their cars all lined up along the side of the road about a quarter mile away from where they currently were. A few zombies were walking by the cars but luckily weren't interested in them. She was about to start pounding on the door again when it swung open and they were quickly pulled inside by a nervous Santana. When she was sure they were all inside, she looked around trying to spot all of her friends. Mike and Tina were taping newspapers to the bulletproof glass doors at the front of the bank, Brittany was wrapped in Santana's arms as the Latina fought to hold her tears in, and Sam, Kurt, and Mercedes were walking over to Finn and Rory who were mopping up what looked like blood by the entrance of the bank. Puck walked out of what appeared to be an office and called her over with a wave of his hand.<p>

"She _just_ came to a few minutes ago. There's a cut on her forehead but Artie said it's nothing major so we don't really have to go ape shit over it" Puck explained as he walked towards the office with Quinn and Blaine in tow. She whispered a small 'thank you' as he held the door open for them.

"Rachel?" Quinn called out.

A tan hand flew up from behind a dark wooden desk, and Quinn smiled as she walked around it to sit next to her girlfriend. Artie had just finished covering the cut on her forehead when she turned to look at Rachel. A dopey smile was aimed in her direction and Quinn couldn't help but smile back as she took a hold of Rachel's small hand. She gave a questioning look to both Artie and Noah and laughed when Sugar explained she had given her some mild pain killers from the first aid kit that was strapped to Artie's wheel chair.

"Are you okay?" Quinn asked when Rachel shifted to lay down with her head in Quinn's lap. She threaded her fingers through Rachel's hair waiting for the other girl to answer. Tears instantly poured down her face when her fingers touched blood on the side of Rachel's head. It seemed to pull Rachel out of her drugged daze and she reached up a hand to wipe away the tears on her lover's face.

"Baby stop" Rachel pleaded. "I'm ok. See?"

She gave Quinn her best mega-watt smile and then genuinely smiled when Quinn laughed through her tears and shook her head at her girlfriend's antics. Rachel readjusted her head on her girlfriend's lap and allowed Quinn to start cleaning her hair with the things that Blaine handed her.

"Are you sure you're okay Rachel?" Blaine asked from his seat on top of the desk.

"Peachy" Rachel replied with a smile on her face. "What's a war if you don't have a couple of scars to show for it anyways, right?"


	9. AN!

...So this isn't an update...

DON'T LEAVE THOUGH!

To everyone who is following this story, I am in the middle of re-writing this entire thing. It's still going to be very similar but in many ways things will be different. One major change is going to be the characters. I started this story with wanting to keep everyone safe and together but that's not as realistic as I'd like. I've thought of different ways to keep everyone involved and still take the story where I want it to go. The title of the story will still have "ZDay" in it so be on the lookout on Wednesday for it! If it makes it easier, "subscribe" to my alerts so you know when I post it. This will be taken down on Friday night. Hope to see you guys on the new version!

-*Gleek-Of-Nowhere


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